Free Republic

Union riveter Chester A. Riley would know what to say: What a revoltin’ development this is. Two major unions broke away from the AFL-CIO this week with others likely to follow. When the dust settles, the labor federation stands to lose a third of its membership. After 50 years of dominance in representing unionized workers, the AFL-CIO will now confront that which it abhors, competition. Union power is predicated on monopoly. Use our members or go out of business, Mr. Employer. Pay our dues or go without a job, Mr. Worker. Protect us from overseas competition, Mr. President. AFL-CIO boss...

Economics: Europe has been the source of many of America's most beloved fairy tales. Not all are of ancient origin. Take the European Union's insistence five years ago that its economy would leapfrog ours by 2010. The so-called Lisbon Strategy was unveiled with much fanfare. Struck in the Portuguese capital, the deal essentially predicted the EU economy would pass up America's and leave it in the dust. At the time, it sounded reasonable. The EU was adding new members, and the common wisdom was that the U.S., though a big military power, was suffering from what geostrategists like to call...

Kerry, Kerry, quite contrary, How do your coffers grow? With 527s and 501s, And ugly little Soros's dough. For the junior senator from Massachusetts, there's no escaping the fact that August was one long, hot month. (Hum. Maybe that's why he spent so much of it windsurfing.) And the rest of the season could shape up to be even more inclement for John F. Kerry. My clever jingle notwithstanding, the candidate has good reason to be contrary: No matter how rapidly his coffers have grown, his political fortunes are now shrinking at an alarming rate. If this downward trend continues,...

Ahh, Free at La -- Oops! Time's Up By Joe Robinson Sunday, July 27, 2003; Page B01 SANTA MONICA, Calif. "How do Americans do it?" asked the stunned Australian I met on a remote Fijian shore. He had zinc oxide and a twisted-up look of absolute bafflement on his face. I'd seen that expression before, on German, Swiss and British travelers. It was the kind of amazement that might greet someone who had survived six months at sea in a rowboat. The feat he was referring to is how Americans manage to live with the stingiest vacation allotment in the...

A FEW MONTHS AGO the Jesuit-run America magazine ran a smartly-designed full-page ad headlined with a pithy statement in large bold typeface: "Small is Good." The ad was for the American College of Louvain (ACL), the seminary in Belgium run directly by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the oldest national seminary for Americans, founded in 1857. "When it comes to business, bigger is usually better," the ad states. "When it comes to Church, does the same principle apply?" Heavens no, the ad claims, and ACL happens to be living proof-or so it claims: "For almost ten years, our...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. said on Thursday it used microscopic carbon molecules to emit light -- a breakthrough some scientists say might one day make faster and smaller computers. In the quest for ever-smaller computing devices, researchers are seeking to replace silicon as the foundation for chips. Researchers at IBM have been studying tiny carbon nanotubes -- molecules resembling rolls of chicken wire that are 50,000 times narrower than a human hair. By engineering the carbon nanotube, IBM said it was able to not only conduct current, but to create light that could someday be used...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Friday that President Bush was responsible for a "precipitous drop" in America's international stature and for an economy falling apart.</p> <p>Democrats will emphasize the country's weakened economy in the two weeks leading up to the elections for control of Congress, Daschle said.</p>