Report Finds U.S. Freedom of Press Slipping
The United States has dropped nine spots on Reporters Without Borders’ fifth annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. When the list debuted in 2002, America was ranked 17 out of the 168 countries that are rated; this year, that rank is 53. The U. S. has a worse rating than countries like Albania, Liberia, Haiti, Armenia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Lebanon. We are getting closer to Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
President Bush Says ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’
During an interview today on ABC’s This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years. George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker’s plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is “between ’stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’†Bush responded, ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’
Tony Snow Tries To Convince Reporter That Bush Doesn’t Use Term “Stay The Courseâ€
Republican National Committee Mailing Accuses Democrat Of Helping To Start the War in Iraq
Rodney Alexander’s (R-La.) chief of staff sued for sexual harassment
Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), already enmeshed in the ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) page scandal, now faces a new controversy as a former staffer has sued his office for sexual harassment.
Republican National Committee TV ad looks just like a terrorist propaganda film
The dictionary definition of the word ‘terrorize’ is simple and not open to misinterpretation: “To fill or overpower with terror; terrify; coerce by intimidation or fear.” Note please that the words ‘violence’ and ‘death’ are missing from that definition. For the key to terrorism is not the act-but the fear of the act. That is why bin Laden and his deputies and his imitators are forever putting together videotape statements and releasing virtual infomercials with dire threats and heart-stopping warnings.
But why is the Republican Party imitating them? Bin Laden puts out what amounts to a commercial of fear; the Republicans put out what is unmistakable as a commercial of fear.
The Republicans are paying to have the messages of bin Laden and the others broadcast into your home! Only the Republicans have a bigger bankroll. …
By this definition, the people who put these videos together: first, the terrorists and then, the administration, whose shared goal is to scare you into panicking instead of thinking, they are the ones terrorizing you.
By this definition, the leading terrorist group in this world right now is al Qaeda, but the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party.
Some Quotes From Republican Harris County Precinct Chairman Greg Aydt
“In return, we will ship the Arab Muslims in the United States — regardless of their citizenship — back to the Middle East…They and their relatives back in their homelands have shown their utter inability to live at peace with neighbors who are different from themselves….After all, if the Jews are not a good fit in the Middle East, why should the unassimilable Muslims be welcome in America?”
“Where are the peacemakers from the Religion of Peace? All I see are jihadi swine.”
“Sorry, no respect for any ethnicity or religion with this scumbag…Just following the example of Muhammad, I guess. I recall that he liked sex with little girls, too. Would somebody please remind me what is there in Islam that is good and noble?”
“In other words, fundamental human rights are anathema to Islam.”
“Under no circumstances should any alien not yet legally admitted to the United States be held to have any rights beyond the right to continue breathing.”
“Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans?”
Columnist to Pay $34,000 in Bush Propaganda Settlement
Columnist Armstrong Williams has reached a settlement with prosecutors regarding the $240,000 in unpublicized taxpayer funds he received from the Education Department to extol the virtues of President Bush’s policies. Under the settlement, Williams admits no wrongdoing, but will have to pay $34,000 that prosecutors determined he had failed to earn under the terms of his secret contract with the government.
Tom Feeney running smear campaign
Tom Feeney is the sitting U.S. Congressman; former Florida Speaker of the House; Jeb Bush’s former gubernatorial running mate; the man who promised to deliver Florida’s electoral vote to George W. during the 2000 fiasco no matter what the Supremes had to say; the only so-far unindicted Congressman to have gone with Jack Abramoff on a paid golf trip to St. Andrews, Scotland and; the man whom Curtis accused — via affidavit video-taped Congressional testimony, and lie-detector test — of commissioning a vote-rigging software prototype in 2000. Shamefully, Feeney has done little more than mount a disgraceful smear campaign against Clint Curtis, attempting to paint him as “crazy” and not fit for office. The campaign seems only to have highlighted Feeney’s own lack of seriousness as a legislator. But now the Daytona Beach News Journal has endorsed Curtis over Tom Feeney in their race for the U.S. House seat in Florida’s 24th district.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey