dictators

The big news of the day is the fall of Tripoli and that raises the question if it will embolden more rebels in the Middle East to do the same:

The implosion of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year-old rule will put a new spring in the step of the Arab revolutions and demonstrate once again that these entrenched autocratic governments are not invincible.

From the Atlantic coast to Gulf shores, live images on Arab satellite channels of rebels pouring into Tripoli, trampling on pictures of Gaddafi and chanting "From alley to alley, door to door," taunting the leader with his own threats to hunt down his enemies, will rattle Arab leaders facing similar revolts.

We are seeing historic times in the Middle East and I’m sure the dictators in that region are very nervous right now. It will be interesting to see if what has happened in Libya will spread to other countries. The odds are that it will.

And who knew that spreading democracy in the Middle East could be done so easily and cheap? Apparently not George Bush.

Now we have it. The United States House of Representatives is officially trying to throw their weight into the freedom of the press:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday condemned public disclosure of secret surveillance programs as Republicans stepped up their criticism of news media that published details of a bank-monitoring program last week.

By a largely party-line vote of 227 to 183, the House passed a nonbinding resolution condemning the disclosure of classified information and declaring that the House "expects the cooperation of all news media ... by not disclosing classified intelligence programs."

Lawmakers said a secret Treasury Department program that monitors bank transactions with the aim of tracking down terror groups had been compromised by news reports in the New York Times and other newspapers.

Yes - how dare the media report on the news! How dare they talk about a program that has only been talked about publicly by the Bush administration! How dare they talk about a program that has had a website about it for years! How dare they report on something that the U.N. has even discussed!

What does this vote show? This vote shows the Republicans every lasting wish to turn this into a fascist country. They want our media controlled by them. Imagine if this was the case in the 70's? We would be saying "water what?".

This should send a message to Americans to do what it takes to replace these dictators this fall. If they voted yes for this then we vote no for them this fall.

You may have read about the letter sent to the Washington Post from the Joint
Chiefs in response to a cartoon. If not then head over to

AMERICABlog for the details.

I am not in total agreement on this issue. I believe in the freedom of speech
and that the Joint Chiefs should also be allowed to express that freedom.
However, if they are going to show outrage over a political cartoon in a
newspaper, then they should also show outrage to groups like
Westboro Baptist Church.

The Joint Chiefs make the point that the families and individuals who are
hurt feel great pain and loss. That pain and loss is also great during the
funerals of fallen soldiers but there is no proof the Joint Chiefs have
expressed any outrage over this. How about outrage when right wing pundits also
insult Casey Sheehan because his mother is a war protestor? Those pundits
deserve the same type of outrage that the Washington Post was given.

Last night our President mentioned the word "freedom" a total of 17 times.
Cindy Sheehan had her freedom taken away last night when she was arrested at the
Capital Building. Now we find out her only crime was being in the same place as
a Capital police officer who was ignorant to the rules and laws of the land.
Outrage should be expressed from the Joint Chiefs to the officers who arrested
Cindy and also escorted

Mrs. Young out last night. The Joint Chiefs are leading the fight to spread
freedom and that fight doesn't stop here at home.