diversity and richness. . guest: the iran ian's are persians. that sensibility does seem to unite people in the arab world.

-- the iranians are persians. host: we are monitoring al jazeera right now. it is this what most of the world is now seen? this is what we're getting right now. this is al jazeera. is there one version around the world? is it different here than elsewhere? guest: we are seeing al jazeera international or al jazeera english. there are two strands. there is one in arabic that is broadcast on satellite. you can see that i set like anywhere in the world. there is al jazeera english that is broadcast on cable. it is still trying to put itself on cable on a large scale here in the united states.

as of the first of july, they are going to beat on cable -- they are going to be on cable in the washington, d.c., area. these are two different strands. in many ways, they represent slightly different perspectives on the world. al jazeera arabic as the bulk of its audience in the middle east. it caters to be specifically arab audience in the middle east and elsewhere. al jazeera english has a broader perspective. it is broadcast in english. it addresses so many different audiences in various parts of the world, including the american audience. host: we are talking to abderrahim foukara from al jazeera.

jimmy is on the phone. caller: i have a concern about hypocrisy. barack obama goes abroad and talks about democracy. i find it fascinating because you do not have democracy in the united states. there is an issue in terms of the treatment of african american people in america. i wonder why al jazeera does not deal with the injustices for african-americans in the united states. guest: there is the issue of hypocrisy in the issue of what al jazeera covers in the united states. as far as democracy is concerned, i'm speaking as a non-americans living in the united states. the american political system is an amazing political system treat it is capable of redress

corrections. it has checks and balances, freedom of speech, the first amendment. it is obviously not the perfect political system. it does have its failings. we, in the arab world, clearly have a big deficit -- a big democratic deficit. while there is some hypocrisy in the u.s. president going to preach democracy in the middle east while there are problems here in the united states, that does exist. but to compare the state of democracy in the arab world to the state of democracy in the united states is a major misleading or overreaching effort. initially, the focus of al jazeera in the united states was washington, what happens politically in washington.

we gradually started to widen the circle and cover things in other parts of the united states. we cover not just the political stuff. we try to cover social, cultural, religious topics, including the issue of race. we have covered the issue of race extensively during our extensive coverage of the election up to 2008, obviously. what happened in katrina was one aspect of it. what is creating reverberations about this issue of hypocrisy that the caller was talking about is when people in the middle east selling was going on in iraq after the invasion, the chaos, and the effort by the bush administration to take democracy to iraq peepe.

people then saw the issues around katrina. that caused confusion. how can a government with its own problems try to export democracy to other parts of the world and the middle east? i go back to my fundamental argument. that is that you cannot compare the arab world with the united states in terms of democratic systems. host: a what to remind our audience that they can log on to aljazeera.net for more information. the economy in health care are the remaining issues in the hour. first, here is an news update. >> president obama is traveling in europe, following each for of a former nazi concentration

camp. he visited with wounded troops and a medical center. he will attend a ceremony tomorrow in france to commemorate the day. he will spend the night in paris with his family. next week, the president will be back in washington. house democrats are looking for his return to help with final action on the wartime spending bill. it was delayed by republicans who are making a case against the request for extra spending for the international monetary fund. that promise was made by the president this spring in london. the employment numbers are in. the government reports that employers cut 345,000 jobs in may. that is the fewest since september tree the jobless rate has risen to 9.4%. that is the highest in more than 25 years. the joint economic committee is meeting this morning to review the numbers. we will have that for you later this morning. a new position will be announced next week. the administration is expected to name kenneth feinberg to

monitor executive pay at companies receiving assistance from the $700 billion in troubled assets relief program. we will have more on the supreme court nominee. arlen specter says he is withholding judgment on sotomayor for now. he had been a member of the senior judiciary committee before switching parties this spring. he is refusing to committing himself to supporting the judge until the conclusion of the confirmation hearings. government officials said that dick cheney held secret meetings for lawmakers in 2005 to defend our interrogation. to defend harsh interrogations'. the republican congressman john klein says that based on what he heard and saw in the closed meetings, the information gathered it did disrupt terrorist plots.

attorney general eric holder is asking a federal appeals court to release imprisoned alaskan lawmakers after was found that the prosecutors improperly handled evidence in their corruption trials. it is the second retreat by the justice prosecutors since the conviction of ted stevens was tossed out of court in april. some are calling it a major shakeup in the east wing. the first lady has replaced her chief of staff with a longtime chicago friend. ms. norris has been appointed a senior adviser to the corporation for national and community service. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to focus on the economy. the unemployment rate is 9.4%. that is the highest in 25 years according to the associated press.

we want to get your reaction to this story this morning. you can also email us or send us a tweet. we have other economic stories this morning. this is from "the washington post." there are signs that the firm wants to spend again. united airlines is planning a major purchase of airlines in the next few years.

host: that host: is from the washington post this morning. -- that is from "the washington post" this evening. there will be an apple event this weekend. mortgage rates hit a six-month high. the piece points out that rates have risen to the highest levels in six months. it is threatening to the late housing turnaround by discouraging potential homebuyers. the issue this morning is unemployment. it is at 9.4%. robert is up from new york city on the democrats' line. caller: thank you so much for having me on. it is surprising that they are showing 9.4% in terms of the rate of unemployment. the line directly beneath that

says that it is the most in 25 years. i had an opportunity to work with an organization hiring individuals for customer service representatives. it over the last few months, we have seen an enormous amount of individuals applying for this particular job. my question to yourself and the viewers is this. even though we are showing 345,000 in terms of job loss, what type of hiring have we had? are there any indications that there are jobs being created? if you take the numbers since november, we have several million people who are still unemployed. >> according to the latest figure from the labor department, the total job loss

since december 2007 has been a net total of 6 million. as you point out, there has been some creation of new jobs in some of the highway construction areas. in the financial industries and the tourism industries, there have been job losses. mark is next from georgia. go ahead. caller: this should be a good follow-up for the last caller. i live in georgia. there are a lot of contractors and work or they do not pay into unemployment. when they lose a job, they do not get on the list of 9.4%. the reality is that it is more than double. it is 18% to 20%. i know people who are out of work and have not worked in two or three years. they're doing getting jobs whenever they can. there is nothing consistent. nothing is booming around here. it is not just here.

it is all around the country. oganville is about 45 minutes east of atlanta. -- loganville is about 45 miles east of atlanta. host: discussed your point about job creation. -- this goes to your point about job creation. he talks about how the failure to capitalize on innovation hurt the economy. mike mandell has this piece in "business week." we will take the next call. caller: it is wonderful to get through it to you. host: it is wonderful to hear from you. thank you for calling. caller: thank you. what are the interest rates rising when we are in so much

trouble? -- why are the interest rates rising when we are in so much trouble? so many people are unemployed. the government will not loan money to anyone for a startup business or a business they have had to forsake because of the problems we have had. how do we get small loans of maybe $2,000 to start up our business again? that is what i would like to know. host: this goes somewhat your point. this story is focusing on mortgage rates being at a six- month high. the federal reserve is trying to hold the mortgage rates by buying securities, other factors are driving up the rates. mortgage rates have been pushed up by recent increases in the yield on the long-term treasury securities. that is a benchmark for the mortgage rates.

the next call is nexfrom lynn. actually, i'm going to go to barbara in michigan first. caller: i am a first-time collar. i am very worried that china is getting all of the business now. they are all going to china and mexico. ge has opened up a plant to make wind turbines in china. i think they should do it here. i am too old to be working anymore myself. but i am worried about all of the children and our children's children here in the united states of america. i think the government should do something about this. that is all i have to say. thank you very much. host: now we will go to it

lynn in california. caller: i have been unemployed since november. when i lost my job, a retired first from the major telephone company. i was a manager for a long time. then i decided to take a job with the cable company selling air time. my timing was not very good. i took the job last year. last summer, everything started to go down as far as businesses closing here in california. the unemployment where i am is quite high. i decided to change careers. i think that is what a lot of us have to do, especially those of us who have been in the workforce for a long time and have been successful in the past. i decided to change my career. i am now exploring the area of insurance. i seem to be getting along of

good responses from that. it is an industry that is somewhat recession-proof. i think that is what we have to do. we have to look for different areas and avenues instead of staying in the same type of job or business. that is where we need to focus. i am 60 years old. host: i asked that because the older you get, the more difficult it may be to train again or get the next job. caller: that is correct. i have had several interviews you have to look for a job when you are unemployed. i have had several interviews where i know i was qualified, but i was not tired. i am competing with a much we don't labe -- i am competing with a much younger labor force. i know that as part of the problem. host:. thank you.

the next call is from maine. caller: in the paper here about a month ago, they had a picture of a ship unloading wind turbines. they were made by ge in brazil. i was wondering if our administration would give tax credits to the companies that outsource jobs. will they get serious and start creating jobs here in this country? host: if you are creating new forms of energy it with a company like g.e. employs a lot of americans, would that be a good thing? caller: i think so. they created a lot of jobs in brazil building these wind turbines. host: the next call -- we are talking about a labor department numbers.

caller: this is michael from dallas. i enjoy your program so much. i spent 26 years in the military. i do not have to worry about being unemployed. my wife was a schoolteacher here in dallas. they have laid off the time of schoolteachers even with tenure. -- they have laid off a lot of schoolteachers even with tenure. the older they are, the less chance there is to get work. my son is the same way. i would like to ask obama face- to-face about the change that we can count on. what about the changes going to bring? what about the jobs he's going to bring back from overseas? he is doing none of that. as a career military officer, i am in constant contact with people in washington. they tell me it is a bunch of smoke. i will hang up and listen to the answer. i think that obama needs to keep his word and not lie to the

american people. host: our job is to hear from you and not give answers from our point of view. the president is at the former concentration camp that was part of the nazi regime that killed part of the estimated 6.5 million people during world war ii. he will travel to commemorate d- day in the invasion that took place in june of 1944. arthur is next from fort pierce, florida. caller: good morning. my comment is about the banks. i bought my house here three years ago after a retired from being a firefighter in cleveland, ohio. i intended to refinance. -- i attempted to refinance.

bank of america wanted $5,000 of my money to refinance my loan. my house is only worth half of what i paid for it. until this country can do something about the lobbyists, the banks have the most powerful lobby in the nation, we're going to continue on this path of not caring about americans. there is nothing that obama is doing to help americans at all. that is my comment. host: this is another economic story in "the boston globe." the demand for used cars is driving some prices up. the next call is from woodstock, georgia. the unemployment rate is 9.4%. what do you think? go ahead. caller: i was curious about the fact of unemployment. do they have the numbers of those who have been injured on

the job in our in workers' compensation situations? there have been so many freezes on hiring right now. host: that may come up at the hearing we will be covering with the joint economic committee. that will get underway in about seven or eight minutes. we will have live coverage of our companion network c-span 2. john is next from pittsburgh. good morning. caller: i have been playing with the numbers a little bit. maybe you can confirm this or maybe another caller. if we have 9.5% unemployment, i am estimating that is around 8 million people unemployed. if you take that percentage, is it true that there are only

about 85 million workers in this country? that is my question. i would also like to echo what someone else to said. we have to get rid of lobbyists. they are controlled by major corporations. they are destroying this country. we do not control this country when a good politician gets into office. host: next call is from rosenberg, texas. caller: if obama wanted more jobs, they could open up offshore drilling off the texas coast line. that would create thousands of jobs. the problem is that saudi arabia controlled the bush administration and the obama administration. our energy policy is good for them. it is bad for america. host: we want to share the numbers about how many people are out of work. 9.4% is the current unemployment

rate. an estimated 6 million people have lost their jobs since december 2007. it is estimated that about 14.5 million americans are looking for work in collecting unemployment benefits. george joins us from madison heights, michigan. caller: the unemployment rate will go higher when they start doing this stuff with the car companies in michigan. 1100 from gm. 800 from chrysler. they may hire 50 or 60 people from dealerships. -- they may fire 50 or 60 people from dealership. athat is a lot of people unemployed. the stimulus package is aid bondage package. someone will be yelling from a capitol building that it is time

to pay the fiddler. caller: good morning. if president obama had not gotten the stimulus package, the unemployment rate would be much higher. we were on the cusp of the depression when he came into office. the economy is now turning around at least some. it would have been much worse. i am surprised to hear people complaining about what he is doing. they did not call in for the last administration. obama has only been in office four months. host: this is from the farm trade show -- this is from the front page. this says that he is close to buying saturn. the details say that roger pen ske who helped revitalize

downtown while running the nation's no. 2 of a retailer is on the verge of wrestling general motors end of the saturn brand. gm is close to selling the saturn division and a deal that would keep the brand alive and allow new manufacturers to provide vehicles to the dealer network. that is from the "detroit free press." caller: i am so glad that you guys exist. i have not called in a while. obama seems to be doing a great job considering the way he came into office. it would be great if congress could mandate a show like years with 24/7 questions and answers that was totally accurate. host: who would you want to see?

who could answer some of your questions? caller: i can -- you can only do so much. i enjoy your program. it covers so many areas. anyways, i just wanted to say thank you. host: we have some tweets coming in. this is one about someone who lost their jobs recently but has never been on unemployment. another one asks if the unemployed numbers include the recent college and high-school graduates entering the workforce. the next telephone call is from philadelphia. go ahead, marsha. caller: i think the unemployment rate is cyclical. i do not understand how people can complain when you have had the same job for 30 or 40 years. it is just a matter of retraining. you have to reeducate yourself.

we have to learn new things. we have to continue to try to reach out for global inclusion. as americans, we need to go back to school. we need to wake up. we need to retrain ourselves in some new things. host: jay is on the phone from winchester, va., on the republican line. caller: i'm glad to hear c-span report the unemployment rate as a percentage instead of a number. we hear about the economy and falling out. we hear that the unemployment rate is going down. it is not. the administration has not created any jobs except for government jobs. they treated 80,000 jobs this year. but they created at -- they created 80,000 jobs this year with the government. thiv