Free Republic

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Saudi Arabia warned against accusing Muslims of terrorism and fascism, in an apparent reference to US President George W. Bush's claim that the United States is at war with "Islamic fascists". The Saudi government "called on everyone to realize that terrorism has no religion or nationality", said a cabinet statement carried by the official SPA news agency. It "warned against hurling charges of terrorism and fascism at Muslims without regard to the spotless history of Islamic civilization", the statement said. "What Islam is being accused of today, like fascism, is primarily a Western cultural product,"...

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Witnesses say parts of Iowa City sustained heavy damage Thursday night as a tornado swept through the city. The most heavily damaged sections were parts of downtown and south-central Iowa City. Hospitals report about a dozen people injured, with most injuries not being serious. The National Weather Service says the courthouse roof in downtown Iowa City is gone, and that the top two floors of a large concrete and brick building in downtown Iowa City have collapsed. The historic Dairy Queen on Riverside Drive was destroyed. Cars were overturned near Clinton and Burlington Streets. A Menard's...

Published: February 14, 2006 11:30 PM ET CHAMPAIGN Two editors at the University of Illinois student-run newspaper were suspended Tuesday for their decision to run a series of cartoons that have sparked outrage and violence around the Islamic world. Editor-in-chief Acton H. Gorton said the Daily Illini's publisher suspended him and the newspaper's opinions sections editor, Charles Prochaska, for two weeks pending the outcome of an internal investigation. "I'm very disappointed. I think this is nothing more than a cover-up," Gorton said. Publisher and general manager Mary Cory released a statement Tuesday night saying a student task force will "investigate...

The United States continues its descent into the Third World, but you would never know it from news reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' July payroll jobs release. The media give a bare-bones jobs report that is misleading. The public heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface, things look to be pretty much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the concern arises. Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13 percent) are tax-supported government jobs. That...

Washington - The current low unemployment rate probably understates the true level of joblessness by 1 to 3 percentage rate, the senior economist at the Boston Federal Reserve says. Millions of potential workers who dropped out of the labor force during the recession four years ago have not returned and are thus not counted in the official unemployment statistics, said Katherine Bradbury in a paper published by the Boston Fed. The jobless rate fell to 5 percent in June. Labor force participation rates "have not recovered as much as usual and the discrepancies are large," she wrote. "Current low rates...

A lot of government officials, and media folks, attempt to convince us that illegal immigration isn’t such a bad thing, because illegal immigrants are “doing jobs that Americans won’t do.” Sorry, but Americans will do just about anything, if the money is right. It’s not that there are “jobs that Americans won’t do,” it’s the simple fact that Americans don’t want to be paid chicken feed for the work that they do. Since some businesses don’t want to pay what workers feel the job should pay, the jobs go unfilled. These businesses instead hire illegal aliens and attempt to justify...

Thanks but no thanks, say students to the prospect of entering the computer field in college. According to the Computer Research Association, new enrollments in computer and engineering programs have dropped for four straight years. Simple economics shows the reason: good-paying tech jobs were wiped out in the dot-com crash and haven't returned. But USA Today observes that high-level jobs combining technology and business still exist in the US. The implication there says no candidates exist to fill those jobs. Oddly enough, the article doesn't state how a new college engineering graduate will have access to these high-level jobs. Since...

After three years of unemployment, Allen Gruenhut finally landed a job as director of human resources for a company in the stone business on Long Island. His age, 53, worked against him in his long hunt for work, he contends, and so did the six-figure salary he earned at his previous job, in banking. "They would not take me seriously at job interviews when I said I would be happy with a lower salary," Gruenhut said. Jackie Ellenwood, 31, is still without a job. She had worked for three travel agencies over 13 years, until her last job, in Allen...

Biggest Drop In Unemployment Claims Since December 2001.  "Far fewer Americans than expected applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week as the effects of Hurricane Charley faded, the Labor Department reported Thursday. ...  Initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped 44,000, to 319,000, in the week ended Saturday from a revised 363,000 the week before. It was the steepest weekly decline since a plunge of 77,000 in December 2001, three months after the terrorist attacks."  ("Jobless Claims Drop," Reuters, 9/10/04)More Evidence Inflation Is Under Control. "U.S. producer prices unexpectedly declined last month, reflecting cheaper cars, computers and gasoline, a government...

Revised indictment alleges Al-Hussayen ran Web sites, raised money for terrorists A University of Idaho computer student managed Web sites and helped raise money for the terrorist organization Hamas -- all from his quiet Moscow campus, a new indictment alleges. The indictment is the third and most serious version of charges to be filed against Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a computer sciences doctoral student when he was arrested in February 2003. He is now accused of fund raising for Hamas, whose terrorist cells promote suicide bombings and violence in Israel and elsewhere as part of a holy war. Al-Hussayen helped create...

Thursday July 24, 9:10 am ET By Nancy Waitz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans lodging new jobless claims dropped to the lowest level since February, the government said on Thursday in a report showing surprising strength in the long-depressed U.S. job market. The level of new claims, which gives an early reading on the resilience of the job market, plunged by 29,000 to 386,000 in the July 19 week, down from a revised 415,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said. New claims were far below Wall Street expectations for 413,000 applications, and the lowest since the...