Freedom of the Press

Today's Saying

Here is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered expression. ~Gerard K. O'Neill,

The good news is that the idea of a free press is still alive and well in America.
I’m sure all of you, at least all of you who live in the United States , know by now that the Obama Administration hates Fox New. They have publicly said so and in the process called Fox News names. They absolutely don’t like what Fox says about some of Obama’s leadership. They want Fox News to shut up.
So as part of their anti Fox campaign the Treasury Department made available Ken Feinberg, the executive pay czar, for interviews with the White House "pool" news organizations -- except Fox. The clear message was that if we don’t like what you say about us we can punish you by preventing you from gathering information from any source we control.
The good news is that every single news organization turned down the opportunity forcing the government to either invitee Fox or alienate all the news organizations. The government invited Fox.
The National News Organizations understood that if the government censors Fox today for what it says then tomorrow it can cut off any of them. In the end you have only government managed news. By pulling together they said “ We won’t put up with that”.
I am not a Fox News supporter but I do support its right to say things the government doesn’t like.
Instead of attacking Fox the government should openly and honestly refute what it says, assuming its wrong.
I also support the right of any news agency to say positive things about the government even if every conservative in the country believes the statements to be untrue.
Freedom is a painful thing.
It is essential that we have free news agencies and that we let them be free.
Threats, boycotts, harassment because of what is said is so un-American.
I know that the chant of the true believer on either side, liberal or conservative, is “ Only allow the truth as we see it”.
That’s why the press will always be seen as biased.
But the government leadership needs to rise above the true believers.
It really does.

This morning a fellow who looked like an Arab stopped in to Nancy's for a cup of Coffee. He asked where the nearest feed store was. Nancy told him that about a mile down the road was Nelsons Feed and Seed store. They had any kind of animal food you might want. He thanked her and drove off in an old looking truck.
About fifteen minutes later Oswald at Nelsons Feed and Seed called Eino. He said there was an Arab there that wanted to buy twenty bags of a particular fertilizer. He sent Eino the man's picture taken with his wireless phone. Eino said to stall him.
Then Eino called his friend at Homeland Security and sent him the picture. His friend said the man.s name was Haz-mat and he was dangerous. They should try to stall him until Homeland Security could get somebody there.
Eino called Oscar back and said to stall the man as long as possible. Then he called Chief Ican. Who then drove out to the feed store.
By the time he got there the man was gone. Oscar said he had told him he only had three bags but could get the rest in a couple of hours and the man just turned around and left.
A couple of hours later a green man stopped in to Nancy's, identified himself as a government agent, showed them Has-mat's picture and asked if he had stopped there. Then he wanted to know what Has-mat was driving. There was a real disagreement on the color of the truck. But all said it was an odd looking truck.
When he left everybody did agree that the man asking the questions was green. They had never seen a green man before.
Got to the office at 4:50 this morning. My soda didn't arrive until 6:30. I was so thirsty. I have this thought that I should tell you the dragons got some new awards and you can see them HERE. But I am resisting the thought . You know what I think of internet awards. But the thought keeps coming like magic. I will not tell you. The rest of the day passed without any great event except my sister Dawn called. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA