Even the AJC prints editorial questioning the GOP pundits attempt to supress right of protest.

AJC: Radio talk of treason threatens free speech.

Like many others, I had the interesting experience Wednesday morning -- soon after dropping off my kids at school and turning on the car radio -- of hearing a famous voice use the word "traitor." He was talking about some opponents of the Bush administration's policy toward Iraq.

.....

But, like other right-wing talk show talkers, he [Neal Boortz] has been pushing hard lately -- and in solemn terms -- for exactly the war the administration wants. And he has been painting the administration's critics and questioners as defenders of Saddam Hussein, and as unwilling to defend their country and their civilization.

On Wednesday, he used the word "traitor" several times. His show, as usual, was having a ball trashing Bush's critics. Amid floods of radio invective against a wide assortment of alleged appeasers, cowards, fools, anti-Americans and Iraqi sympathizers, Boortz's talk of traitors sounded like more of the same.

.....

It needs to be remembered that the administration's Iraq policies, its timing, its treatment of allies, its difficulties in making the case for immediate war -- and more -- have inspired many Americans to voice objections. Bush's critics, in facts, have included senior aides to the first President Bush, as well as retired military officers like Gen. Wesley Clark.

Will ordinary citizens dare to speak out in a radio environment of relentless vituperation and talk of treason? We're entering dangerous domestic territory.

Imagine the conservative editors of the AJC allowing such words to be printed. Traitorous, I tell you.

      

Final list of teams for Tour de Georgia.

Cycling News: Teams finalised for Tour de Georgia.

A total of 18 teams have been signed up to ride the inaugural Tour de Georgia, which takes place from April 22-27. Sidermec, Flanders IteamNova and Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave are the most recent additions to the list, which includes Rabobank and a Dutch national team, as well as the main U.S. and Canadian teams. The full team list is as follows:

7UP/Nutra Fig
Colavita-Bolla
Flanders IteamNova
Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave
Jelly Belly/Carlsbad Clothing
Jittery Joe's Coffee
Navigators
Netherlands national team
Ofoto/Lombardi Sports
Prime Alliance
Rabobank
Saturn
Schroeder Iron
Sierra Nevada/Cannondale
Sidermec
Team West Virginia
U.S. Postal Service presented by Berry Floor
Webcor/Alto Velo

The name of the race still seems stupid. How about "Ya'll's Tour of Gawga."

      

Again, conservative GOPers try to prevent Americans from their right to protest.

AJC: Disagree at your own risk.

I wasn't sure how much good I could do or how much power one person has but I wanted to do it. When I took my place on the sidewalk across the street from my church, I was struck with this Norman Rockwell picture of America. Families with their balloons, flags and signs made it feel like the Fourth of July. I was thrilled by all the patriotism and was proud to be part of this community that cares enough to turn out to greet the most powerful politician in our land.

But when I unrolled my sign, all that changed, and I may never be able to look at my community the same way again.

I never chanted, raised my voice, confronted anyone or was disrespectful to those around me. I simply held my sign and stood my ground. The abuse came first from a small group of homemakers standing near me, their small children dressed in red, white and blue.

"Go home! You don't belong here," they said.

All around me folks began to speak up, and it wasn't long before a large group of people crossed the street with banners and flags and began aggressively yelling "Go USA!" Bob, a young man with a ball cap and a sign reading "Drop Bush, Not Bombs" came and stood with me for support.

The really frightening stuff began when a television cameraman stopped and asked me why I was there. As soon as the crowd saw the camera pointed at me, they went wild. I was trying to express myself and they screamed at me and over my voice. A man stood behind me making obscene gestures as I spoke.

The reporter tried three times, unsuccessfully, to get a picture without obscenity. One woman spat in my hair. The journalist gave up and moved on. The mob did not. Men and women violently screamed in my face and Bob's.

It stopped just long enough for the president's motorcade to pass by and then erupted again. We were told to " Get the f--- out of the country," had obscene gestures pushed in our faces. An elderly man told me to "Go to hell!"

And the main point.

I was in a state of shock. Here I was, a 42-year-old mother of four, born and raised in Cobb County, holding a peace sign, standing on the sidewalk across the street from my church, and I was frightened that my neighbors were going to hurt me because I dared to express my opinion. This could not be happening. Not in America, right?

Wouldn't Jesus would be proud of these suburban Atlantan conservative Christians and Republicans? Especially spitting on people in front of the community church?

This is what the GOP, Bush, and Ashcroft are doing to America. No longer are you allowed to protest or express your views. The say that if you don't support them, you are un-American. Our First Amendment means nothing to these people. The GOP is trying to turn our country into communist Russia, preventing free speech, the exchange of ideas, and meaningful debate. I could never vote Republican again after the crap they have done. From Election 2000 to now, all they have done is to try and squelch the voice of America.

Republicans suck!

      

Bush lies caught and listed!

House.org: Caught on film.

A really nice web page listing Bush's photo ops, his rhetoric, amd then what he actually does. Gives graphic demonstration of Bush's credibility gap. Just click here, and take a scroll.

      

Name the fetish!

Omaha World-Herald: Ticket costs election chief his post.

Douglas County Election Commissioner Pat McPherson resigned Tuesday, a day after being ticketed on suspicion of fondling a 17-year-old girl who was dressed as a restaurant mascot.

.....

The mascot at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers alleged that McPherson fondled her and that City Council President Chuck Sigerson exposed her undergarments Feb. 7 in the restaurant.

There has got to be a name for this. And why is it that it is always the party of family values that gets all these really weird guys. Getting a hummer is one thing, but fondling mascots?

I am picturing McPherson getting off, no pun intended, on a technicality and leaving the courthouse with his friends:

Reporter asks, "What are you going to do now Pat McPherson?"

Pat looks into the camera, "I'm going to Disney World!"

      

Another case of the employees knowing more than management.

MSNBC: E-mails foretold Columbia's doom.

The space agency released e-mails Wednesday also showing it was sufficiently concerned about possible damage to Columbia's insulating tiles that it asked the Defense Department, then abruptly changed its mind, to take pictures of the shuttle in orbit more than one week before its breakup.

The dozens of pages of e-mails described a many-sided internal debate about the seriousness of potential damage to Columbia from a liftoff collision with foam debris, a debate that was far broader than previously acknowledged. They even considered instructing the crew to bail out.

Engineers in Texas and Virginia fretted about the shuttle's safety during its final three days in orbit, with one wondering whether officials were "just relegated to crossing their fingers" and another questioning why such dire issues had been raised so late.

There need to be some lines of communications opened. Maybe a big suggestion box with the sign: "If you believe something of NASA's is going to go boom, gladly leave a suggestion. Suggestions do not have to be signed and may be annonymous."