every day was sad because of you

Dupa cum multi dintre voi stiti saptamina asta se desfasoara conventia partidului Republican. Aseara Arnold Schwarzenegger a vorbit, iar astazi toate programele de radio si televizor si toate ziarele sau concentrat asupra speech-ului lui Arnold. Cei care doresc sa afle ce a spus mai jos puteti citi speech-ul lui. Tot aici puteti afla cine sint Republicanii si care este platforma partidului Republican. Citire placuta.

****************************************

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Thank you.

What a greeting! This is like winning an Oscar! ...As if I would know!

Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention.

My fellow Americans, this is an amazing moment for me. To think that a once-scrawny boy from Austria could grow up to become Governor of California and stand in Madison Square Garden to speak on behalf of the President of the United States that is an immigrant's dream. It is the American dream.

I was born in Europe ...and I've traveled all over the world. I can tell you that there is no place, no country, more compassionate more generous more accepting and more welcoming than the United States of America.

As long as I live, I will never forget that day 21 years ago when I raised my hand and took the oath of citizenship.

Do you know how proud I was? I was so proud that I walked around with an American flag around my shoulders all day long.

Tonight, I want to talk about why I'm even more proud to be an American -why I'm proud to be a Republican and why I believe this country is in good hands.

When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets .I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.

My family didn't have a car -- but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn't an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car, and I'd never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union and it is because of the United States of America!

As a kid I saw the socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left. I love Austria and I love the Austrian people - but I always knew America was the place for me.

In school, when the teacher would talk about America, I would daydream about coming here. I would sit for hours watching American movies transfixed by my heroes like John Wayne. Everything about America seemed so big to me so open, so possible.

I finally arrived here in 1968.I had empty pockets, but I was full of dreams. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend who spoke German and English, translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism which is what I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes, and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air.

I said to my friend, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican!" And I've been a Republican ever since! And trust me, in my wife's family, that's no small achievement! I'm proud to belong to the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party of Teddy Roosevelt, the party of Ronald Reagan and the party of George W. Bush.

To my fellow immigrants listening tonight, I want you to know how welcome you are in this party. We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in your future. One thing I learned about America is that if you work hard and play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything.

Everything I have my career my success my family I owe to America. In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were. It doesn't make any difference if, like me, you couldn't even speak English until you were in your twenties.

America gave me opportunities, and my immigrant dreams came true. I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities. And I believe they can. That's why I believe in this country, that's why I believe in this party and that's why I believe in this President.

Now, many of you out there tonight are "Republican" like me in your hearts and in your beliefs. Maybe you're from Guatemala. Maybe you're from the Philippines. Maybe Europe or the Ivory Coast. Maybe you live in Ohio Pennsylvania or New Mexico. And maybe just maybe you don't agree with this party on every single issue. I say to you tonight I believe that's not only okay that's what's great about this country. Here

we can respectfully disagree and still be patriotic still be American and still be good Republicans

My fellow immigrants, my fellow Americans how do you know if you are a Republican? I'll tell you how.

If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government...then you are a Republican! If you believe a person should be treated as an individual, not as a member of an interest group... then you are a Republican! If you believe your family knows how to spend your money better than the government does... then you are a Republican! If you believe our educational system should be held accountable for the progress of our children ... then you are a Republican! If you believe this country, not the United Nations, is the best hope of democracy in the world ... then you are a Republican! And, ladies and gentlemen ...if you believe we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism ... then you are a Republican!

There is another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ...and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie men!

The U.S. economy remains the envy of the world. We have the highest economic growth of any of the world's major industrialized nations. Don't you remember the pessimism of twenty years ago when the critics said Japan and Germany were overtaking the U.S.? Ridiculous!

Now they say India and China are overtaking us. Don't you believe it! We may hit a few BUMPS -- but America always moves ahead! That's what Americans do!

We move prosperity ahead. We move freedom ahead. We move people ahead. Under President Bush, and Vice President Cheney, America's economy is moving ahead in spite of a recession they inherited and in spite of the attack on our homeland.

Now, the other party says there are two Americas. Don't believe that either. I've visited our troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia, Germany, and all over the world. I've visited our troops in California, where they train before they go overseas. And I've visited our military hospitals. And I can tell you this: Our young men and women in uniform do not believe there are two Americas!

They believe we are one America and they are fighting for it! We are one America - and President Bush is defending it with all his heart and soul!

That's what I admire most about the President. He's a man of perseverance.

He's a man of inner strength. He is a leader who doesn't flinch, doesn't waiver, does not back down. My fellow Americans, make no mistake about it terrorism is more insidious than communism, because it yearns to destroy not just the individual but the entire international order.

The President didn't go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn't about polls. It's about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions. That's why America is safer with George W. Bush as President.

He knows you don't reason with terrorists. You defeat them. He knows you can't reason with people blinded by hate. They hate the power of the individual. They hate the progress of women. They hate the religious freedom of others. They hate the liberating breeze of democracy. But, ladies and gentlemen, their hate is no match for America's decency.

We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children.

We're the America that sends out missionaries and doctors to raise up the poor and the sick. We're the America that gives more than any other country, to fight AIDS in Africa and the developing world. And we're the America that fights not for imperialism but for human rights and democracy.

You know, When the Germans brought down the Berlin Wall America's determination helped wield the sledgehammers. When that lone, young Chinese man stood in front of those tanks in Tiananmen Square America's hopes stood with him. And when

Nelson Mandela smiled in election victory after all those years in prison America celebrated, too.

We are still the lamp lighting the world especially for those who struggle. No matter in what labor camp they slave no matter in what injustice they're trapped -- they hear our call ... they see our light ... and they feel the pull of our freedom. They come here as I did because they believe. They believe in US.

They come because their hearts say to them, as mine did, "If only I can get to America." Someone once wrote -"There are those who say that freedom is nothing but a dream." They are right. It's the American dream.

No matter the nationality, no matter the religion, no matter the ethnic background, America brings out the best in people. And as Governor of the great state of California -- I see the best in Americans every day ... our police, our firefighters our nurses, doctors and teachers our parents.

And what about the extraordinary men and women who have volunteered to fight for the United States of America! I have such great respect for them and their heroic families.

Let me tell you about the sacrifice and commitment I've seen firsthand. In one of the military hospitals I visited, I met a young guy who was in bad shape. He'd lost a leg had a hole in his stomach ... his shoulder had been shot through.

I could tell there was no way he could ever return to combat. But when I asked him, "When do you think you'll get out of the hospital?" He said, "Sir, in three weeks." And do you know what he said to me then? He said he was going to get a new leg ... and get some therapy ... and then he was going back to Iraq to serve alongside his buddies! He grinned at me and said, "Arnold ... I'll be back!"

Ladies and gentlemen, America is back! back from the attack on our homeland- back from the attack on our economy back from the attack on our way of life. We're back because of the perseverance, character and leadership of the 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush.

My fellow Americans ...I want you to know that I believe with all my heart that America remains "the great idea" that inspires the world. It's a privilege to be born here. It's an honor to become a citizen here. It's a gift to raise your family here to vote here and to live here.

Our president George W. Bush has worked hard to protect and preserve the American dream for all of us. That's why I say ... send - him - back to Washington for four more years!

Thank you, America -- and God bless you all!
************************************************

1. Cathy has six pairs of black gloves and six pairs of brown gloves in her drawer. In complete darkness, how many gloves must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match? Think carefully!!

2. Mom, Dad, and 2 kids have come to a river, and they find a boat. It is small and can only carry one adult or 2 kids at a time. Both kids are good rowers, but how can the whole family reach the other side of the river?

3. Why can't you take a picture of a Indian woman with hair curlers?

4. What is the largest possible number you can write using only 2 digits - just 2 digits, nothing else?

5. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?

6. Because cigars cannot be entirely smoked, a hobo who collects cigar butts can make a cigar to smoke out of every 5 butts that he finds. Today, he has collected 25 cigar butts. How many cigars will he be able to smoke?

7. Jenn is facetious. She is also abstemious. She gets pneumonia. Given those clues, what is the only American tree she will like?

8. How many birth days does the average man have?

9. Someone at a party introduces you to your mother's only sister's husband's sister in law. He has no brothers. What do you call this lady?

10. Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?

11. Two planes take off at the same exact moment. They are flying across the Atlantic. One leaves New York and is flying to Paris at 500 miles per hour. The other leaves Paris and is flying to New York at only 450 miles per hour ( because of a strong head wind ). Which one will be closer to Paris when they meet?

12. A carpenter was in a terrible hurry. He had to work as quickly as possible to cut a very heavy 10 foot plank into 10 equal sections. If it takes 1 minute per cut, how long will it take him to get the 10 equal pieces?

13. Why are 1898 silver dollars worth more than 1897 silver dollars?

14. What English word can have 4 of its 5 letters removed and still retain it's original pronunciation?

15. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child's name?

16. In your sock drawer, you have a ratio of 5 pairs of blue socks, 4 pairs of brown socks, and 6 pairs of black socks. In complete darkness, how many socks would you need to pull out to get a matching pair of the same color?

17. How can a woman living in New Jersey, legally marry 3 men, without ever getting a divorce, be widowed, or becoming legally separated?

18. A woman goes into a hardware store to buy something for her house. When asked the price, the clerk replies, "the price of one is twelve cents, the price of forty-four is twenty-four cents, and the price a hundred and forty-four is thirty-six cents. What does the woman want to buy?

19. If there are 5 apples on the counter and you take away 2, how many do you have?

20. If, having only one match, on a freezing winter day, you entered a room which contained a lamp, a kerosene heater, and a wood burning stove, which should you light first.

1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.

2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

3. I Work Hard Because Millions On Welfare Depend on Me!

4. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

5. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
6. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

7. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me

8. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

9. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

10. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are missing.
11. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

12. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.

13. God must love stupid people; He made so many.

14. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

15. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
16. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

17. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!

18. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.

19. Procrastinate Now!

20. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
21. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

22. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance

23. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

24. They call it PMS because MadCow Disease was already taken.

25. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead.


26..A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.

27. Ham and eggs. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

28. The trouble with life is there's no background music

29. The original point and click interface was a Smith and Wesson.

30. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on!

--------------------------------------------------
My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.
Cary Grant

Ai vorbit ca un tarabostes; nu-mi ramine decit sa adaug cele de mai jos.
SB

> This will get you fired up!
>
>
>
> I wonder how many people are aware of this information. Love him or
> loath him, he nailed this one right on the head
>
> By Rush Limbaugh:
>
> I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the
> September 11 casualty and those who die serving the country in Uniform
> are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you
> just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11.
>
> Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something
> really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country.
>
> If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to
> get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of
> $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.
>
> If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed In
> action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half
> of which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are
> the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry.
>
> And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When
> the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.
>
> Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of
> $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough.
> Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong
> place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL
> OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.
>
> We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the
> Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same
> deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that,
> some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for
> compensation as well.
>
> You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel
> of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just
> really sad.
>
> Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive
> next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the
> Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live
> in low-rent housing. Make sense?
>
> However, our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many
> of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to
> receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month, and most are now
> equal to being millionaires plus. They also do not receive Social
> Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.
>
> If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an
> E-7, you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people
> who placed you in harm's way receive a pension of $15,000 per month. I
> would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks
> before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and
> daughters who are now fighting.
>
> "When do we finally do something about this?" If this doesn't seem fair
> to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.
>
> If your interested there is more............
>
> This must be a campaign issue in 2004. Keep it going. SOCIAL SECURITY:
> (This is worth the read. It's short and to the point.)
>
> Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our
> Senators and Congressmen do not pay into Social Security. Many years
> ago they voted in their own benefit plan. In more recent years, no
> congressperson has felt the need to change it. For all practical
> purposes their plan works like this:
>
> When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die,
> except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments.
> For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives
> may expect to draw $7,800,000 - that's Seven Million, Eight Hundred
> Thousand), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of
> their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each.
>
> Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. These little perks they
> voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for
> this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from
> the General Fund--our tax dollars at work! From our own Social Security
> Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into --every payday until we
> retire (which amount is matched by our employer) --we can expect to get
> an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we
> would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68
> years and one month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!
>
> Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made.
> And that change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from
> under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security
> plan with the rest of us and then watch how fast they would fix it.
>
> If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted
> and maybe good changes will evolve. WE, each one of us... can make a
> difference..
>
>
.

NEWS
Committee to Protect Journalists

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, MAY 3, AT 00:01 GMT (For Monday's Newspapers)

CPJ Names World's Worst Places to Be a Journalist

New York, April 30, 2004-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is marking World Press Freedom Day, Monday, May 3, by naming the World's Worst Places to Be a Journalist.
The list of 10 places represents the full range of current threats to press freedom.

At the top of the list is Iraq, where 25 journalists have died since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. A brutal crackdown launched last year in Cuba by Fidel Castro's government has left an unprecedented 29 journalists behind bars, serving lengthy prison terms of up to 27 years. Last year saw the biggest blow to Zimbabwe's beleaguered press when authorities closed the country's only remaining independent daily. CPJ also placed Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, China, Eritrea, Haiti, the West Bank and Gaza, and Russia on the list of Worst Places to Be a Journalist.


"In all of these places, reporting the news is an act of courage and conviction," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "Journalism is essential in helping all of us understand the events that shape our lives, and our need and desire for information cannot be eliminated by violence and repression."


WORLD'S WORST PLACES TO BE A JOURNALIST:

IRAQ

More than a year after the war in Iraq began, the country remains the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist. Twenty-five journalists have been killed in action in Iraq since March 2003. Twelve have been killed in 2004 alone-all of them Iraqis.

Postwar Iraq is fraught with risks for reporters: Banditry, gunfire, and bombings are common. Insurgents have added a new threat by systematically targeting foreigners, including journalists, and Iraqis who work for them.
At least six Iraqi media workers have been murdered, and several more have received threats. Armed groups have abducted some eight journalists in 2004, though all have been released.

U.S. forces pose an additional threat to working journalists: at least seven-and possibly as many as nine-journalists have been killed by gunfire from U.S. forces. Other journalists-mostly Arab or Iraqi-have been detained and suffered mistreatment at the hands of U.S. forces.

CUBA

The arrest and long-term imprisonment of 29 journalists in 2003 has decimated Cuba's fledgling independent press. A year after the government of President Fidel Castro Ruz launched a massive crackdown against the press and the political opposition, the imprisoned journalists and their families are harassed and exposed to humiliating prison conditions and psychological torture. They have denounced inadequate medical attention, have been placed in solitary confinement, and have complained about receiving foul-smelling and rotten food. The journalists, who are held in maximum-security facilities, went on hunger strikes several times to demand better conditions. Those journalists who were not imprisoned continue to face routine police intimidation and harassment and are careful about what they write. They say they have been visited by state security officials and issued warnings to stop writing or face the consequences.

ZIMBABWE

For the last four years, Zimbabwe's government has pursued a relentless crackdown on the private press through harassment, censorship, and restrictive legislation. Last year saw the biggest blow to press freedom yet, with authorities closing the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily and the country's most popular paper. The country's Media and Information Commission (MIC), whose board is government-appointed, refused to register the newspaper despite two court orders to do so. And in February 2004, the Zimbabwean Supreme Court upheld legislation requiring journalists and media outlets to be licensed by the MIC, making it a criminal act to practice journalism without government approval. Those who fail to register face fines and up to two years' imprisonment.

Zimbabwean officials have proven particularly sensitive to coverage of political unrest and the country's severe economic problems. Journalists who reported on pro-democracy rallies were arrested by police and attacked by ruling party supporters. Last year, authorities deported the last foreign reporter based in Zimbabwe, the U.K. Guardian's Andrew Meldrum, whom officials called an "undesirable inhabitant."

TURKMENISTAN

Because political dissent is not tolerated by Turkmenistan's totalitarian regime, independent journalism is practically non-existent.
President-for-life and self-proclaimed "father of all Turkmen,"
Saparmurat
Niyazov, maintains strict control over all newspapers, radio, and television stations by personally appointing editors, and his office approves news reports before they are published or broadcast.

One of the only independent media outlets that penetrates this system of control is the reporting broadcast from abroad by the Turkmen service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). And again this year, RFE/RL was subjected to intense official harassment. In September 2003, National Security Service (MNB) agents detained an RFE/RL stringer based in the capital, Ashgabat, for two days, threatened him with 20 years in prison for betraying his country, and injected him multiple times with an unknown substance. More recently, in February 2004, MNB agents arrested two RFE/RL freelancers after one smuggled 800 copies of his banned novel into Turkmenistan. Both were released from prison in March after CPJ and other press freedom groups protested. However, the journalists still face charges of slander and instigating social, ethnic, and religious hatred and have been pressured to sever all ties with RFE/RL.


BANGLADESH

Crime, corruption, and lawlessness make Bangladesh the most violent country for journalists in Asia. Reporters routinely face threats, harassment, and often brutally violent physical attacks in retaliation for their reporting.
Despite promises from government officials to apprehend those responsible for assaults, the majority of attacks on journalists go unpunished. Deep political divisions in the country and within the journalism community also contribute to the climate of fear.

CPJ has documented dozens of violent attacks against Bangladeshi journalists during the last decade, including the murders of seven journalists in the last eight years. Journalists working outside the capital, Dhaka, are particularly vulnerable. Veteran journalist Manik Saha was killed in January
2004 in the southwestern city of Khulna when unidentified assailants threw a homemade bomb at him. In December 2003, a group of thugs affiliated with the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party tried to kill Shafiul Haque Mithu in the southwestern town of Pirojpur after he wrote a series of articles exposing local officials' abuse of power.

CHINA

During the last year, the newly installed government of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao has escalated an assault on the burgeoning independent-minded media in China. Authorities have arrested high-profile editors, closed publications, and imposed news blackouts on politically sensitive events.

The crackdown reached an apex in early 2004, when officials arrested three popular and respected editors from the pioneering Southern Metropolis News for alleged corruption. The charges came after the paper published a series of reports on the resurgence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, local police violence, and other sensitive topics. Chinese journalists have called the arrests the "darkest moment" in 20 years of media reform in China.

Forty-one journalists are now imprisoned in China, making it the world's leading jailer of journalists for the fifth year in a row. Independent writers and commentators on the Internet are particularly targeted for prosecution. The arrest of prominent and outspoken commentator Du Daobin in late 2003 sent a clear message to all Internet writers that free expression online will not be tolerated.

ERITREA

Eritrea has been Africa's foremost jailer of journalists since September 2001, when the government banned the entire private press and detained independent reporters. Seventeen journalists are now in secret jails across the tiny Red Sea nation, almost all of them held incommunicado. President Isaias Afewerki and top government officials have accused independent journalists of espionage, spreading disinformation, and "endangering national unity." Authorities continue to insist that the private press also operated without proper licenses, and that independent journalists routinely evaded the compulsory National Service Program. Despite these allegations, no formal charges have been brought against any of the journalists, and the government has given no indication that it intends to prosecute them.

The ruling party has a firm grip on the state media, whose employees are censored and also practice self-censorship. Afewerki has been unfazed by persistent international denunciation of his human rights record and continues to dismiss foreign critics as enemies of Eritrea.


HAITI

Press freedom conditions have seriously deteriorated in Haiti since September 2003, when the murder of a notorious gang leader sparked nationwide violence. From January to March 2004, journalists became targets during the uprising that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29. While hostility against Haitian journalists is common, foreign correspondents were also attacked while covering the two-month rebellion. In March, a Spanish television correspondent was killed and a U.S. photographer was wounded by gunfire. Several radio stations were torched around the country. Investigations into the 2000 and 2001 murders of two prominent Haitian journalists have shown no progress. The Haitian judicial system's failure to prosecute these crimes has perpetuated a climate of impunity, forcing dozens of journalists to go into exile or seek political asylum.

THE WEST BANK AND GAZA

The West Bank and Gaza Strip remains one of the most unpredictable and potentially dangerous assignments for journalists. At least three journalists have been killed there since April 2003-each by Israeli army gunfire. Israeli troops often harass or attack Palestinian journalists, and Israeli authorities enforce tough restrictions on their freedom of movement.
Palestinian journalists are vulnerable to the increasing lawlessness in the Occupied Territories.

Palestinian militias and armed groups have frequently threatened and assaulted reporters and in some cases have ransacked news offices. In 2003 and 2004, Palestinian gunmen raided two television news offices and a newspaper in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, attacked a correspondent on the street in Gaza, and assaulted a reporter in Ramallah.

RUSSIA

President Vladimir Putin's "managed democracy," which includes using various branches of the state bureaucracy to rein in the independent media, is making the practice of independent journalism in Russia more and more tenuous. A shift from blatant pressures to more subtle and covert tactics, such as politicized lawsuits and hostile corporate takeovers by businessmen with close ties to Putin, has allowed the Kremlin to stifle criticism of the president and reports on government corruption and human rights abuses committed by Russian forces in Chechnya.

In advance of the December 2003 parliamentary elections and March 2004 presidential elections, the Kremlin tightened its legal and bureaucratic controls over the domestic press. Russian press groups criticized the Central Election Commission for failing to sanction the state-run national television channels for improperly promoting Putin and pro-Kremlin parties during the campaigns.

Journalists in Russia's provinces continue to be murdered with impunity.
In
October 2003, the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper in the Volga River city of Togliatti was stabbed to death because of his paper's coverage of organized crime and government corruption. He was the paper's second editor-in-chief to be murdered in 18 months.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide.




"The only death you die is the one you die daily by not living. Dream big and dare to fail." - Norman Vaughn

Sallie Dean Shatz
sallie@sopris.net
970 923 6757 h
970 948 2901 cell

Sint inflacarata si imes de mindra de conventia Republicanilor. Totodata imi pare bine ca printre Democrati mai exista oameni ca Zell Miller care poate face discernamintul intre bine si rau. Puterea cuvintelor lui din speech-ul de aseara puteti sa le cititi mai jos. Imi pare rau ca nu este tradus in Romaneste, ar putea politicienii din Romania sa invete ceva.

********************************
Senator Zell Miller

Since I last stood in this spot, a whole new generation of the Miller Family has been born: Four great grandchildren.

Along with all the other members of our close-knit family -- they are my and Shirley's most precious possessions.

And I know that's how you feel about your family also.

Like you, I think of their future, the promises and the perils they will face.

Like you, I believe that the next four years will determine what kind of world they will grow up in.

And like you, I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family?

The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party.

There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is

George Bush.

In the summer of 1940, I was an eight-year-old boy living in a remote little Appalachian valley.

Our country was not yet at war but even we children knew that there were some crazy men across the ocean who would kill us if they could.

President Roosevelt, in his speech that summer, told America "all private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger."

In 1940 Wendell Wilkie was the Republican nominee.

And there is no better example of someone repealing their "private plans" than this good man.

He gave Roosevelt the critical support he needed for a peacetime draft, an unpopular idea at the time.

And he made it clear that he would rather lose the election than make national security a partisan campaign issue.

Shortly before Wilkie died he told a friend, that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between "here lies a president" or "here lies one who contributed to saving freedom", he would prefer the latter.

Where are such statesmen today?

Where is the bi-partisanship in this country when we need it most?

Now, while young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrat's manic obsession to bring down our Commander-in-Chief.

What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?

I can remember when Democrats believed that it was the duty of America to fight for freedom over tyranny.

It was Democratic President Harry Truman who pushed the Red Army out of Iran, who came to the aid of Greece when Communists threatened to overthrow it, who stared down the Soviet blockade of West Berlin by flying in supplies and saving the city.

Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.

Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.

And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.

Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.

Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.

Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.

Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag.

No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.

But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.

They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy.

It is not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to peace.

They were wrong.

They claimed Reagan's defense buildup would lead to war.

They were wrong.

And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror.

Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts.

The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40% of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein's command post in Iraq.

The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.

The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after 9/11.

I could go on and on and on: Against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles over Israel, Against the Aegis air-defense cruiser, Against the Strategic Defense Initiative, Against the Trident missile, against, against, against.

This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?

U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?

Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric.

Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.

Senator Kerry has made it clear that he would use military force only if approved by the United Nations.

Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending. I want Bush to decide.

John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.

That's the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.

Free for how long?

For more than twenty years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure. As a war protestor, Kerry blamed our military.

As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military. And nothing shows that more sadly and more clearly than his vote this year to deny protective armor for our troops in harms way, far-away.

George Bush understands that we need new strategies to meet new threats.

John Kerry wants to re-fight yesterday's war. George Bush believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists.

No matter what spider hole they may hide in or what rock they crawl under.

George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip.

From John Kerry, they get a "yes-no-maybe" bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.

I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together. I admire this man.

I am moved by the respect he shows the First Lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.

I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.

He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.

I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.

The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family.

This election will change forever the course of history, and that's not any history. It's our family's history.

The only question is how. The answer lies with each of us. And, like many generations before us, we've got some hard choosing to do.

Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America. Fainthearted, self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.

In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up. And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him.

Thank you.

God Bless this great country and God Bless George W. Bush.
********************************************

ok... ar trebui sa-ti inchipui, da' pana atunci hai sa vedem daca cineva iti raspunde la intrebare.

pentru mine chestia cu fundul paros e ca prima din sirul (a se citi "shir" dupa definitia data de tine) de "insulte" de mai jos (se vede ca iar imi curat computerul)

Roses are red, violets are blue, I once thought I was ugly, until I saw you!

Just because you have one doesn't mean you have to act like one!

A man's got to do what a man's got to do. A woman must do what he can't.

Men's brains are like the prison system - not enough cells.

Stupidity does not qualify as a handicap, park elsewhere!

You have a right to your opinions. I just don't want to hear them.

You're breath' so stinky I don't know whether I should give you a breath mint or toiletpaper!

If you can't live without me, why aren't you dead already?

You'd make a lovely corpse!

I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception.

Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?

Did you eat a brain tumor for breakfast?

You love nature in spite of what it did to you?

I want to reach your mind - where is it currently located?

I wish I'd known you when you were alive.

If you ever had a bright idea, it would be beginner's luck!

What's on your mind? If you'll forgive the overstatement.

When you go to the mind reader, do you get half price?

I look into your eyes and get the feeling someone else is driving.

You're a mouse studying to be a rat.

Don't look now, but there's one too many in this room and I think it's you.

Every time I'm next to you, I get a fierce desire to be alone.

I can't believe that out of 100,000 sperm, you were the quickest!

If you ever become a mother, can I have one of the puppies?

There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure.

Why don't you bore a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?

You're a good example of why some animals eat their young.



~~~ I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

Cam multa lume in Ro confunda catzelusha sacrificata de rusi si facuta cosmonauta in anii `50 cu aparatul foto...

Dear Leica friends,

Today we would like to inform you about:

__Premiere at the photokina: Leica Camera AG stages photo
exhibition »24 x 36« to mark 50th anniversary of
Leica rangefinder system
__Naturblick magazine and Leica Camera AG raffle 100 signed
copies of nature photographer Franz Bagyi's new book _At the photokina: “Weitblick“ – the flying display of birds
of prey with free testing of Leica binoculars and scopes _Your opinion counts! Win a LEICA DIGILUX 2 _Don’t miss LFI 07/2004! Available from September 29


__Premiere at the photokina: Leica Camera AG stages photo
exhibition »24 x 36« to mark 50th anniversary of
Leica rangefinder system

Leica Camera AG, Solms, is showing outstanding pictures of young Leica M photographers at the photokina in Cologne from 28th September to 3rd October 2004. The title of this exhibition, »24 x 36«, alludes to the central importance of the ideal format for 35mm camera film found by Oskar Barnack. The exhibition has been especially organized for this year's photokina, where it will be on view to an international public for the first time. The presentation at the photokina is the start of an exhibition tour. The next stop is the Leica Gallery in Frankfurt, where the photos will be shown for four weeks starting 9th October 2004. The idea behind the exhibition is to mark the three anniversaries of the Leica rangefinder system that the Solms company is celebrating this year: In 1879, 125 years ago, Oskar Barnack, the ingenious inventor of the Leica, was born. 90 years ago, in 1914, he created the basis for his revolutionary camera concept with the Ur-Leica. And in1954, fifty years ago, Ernst Leitz launched the first rangefinder camera, the LEICA M3, on the market.

Further information on the Leica M System http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/msystem/index_e.html


__Naturblick magazine and Leica Camera AG raffle 100 signed
copies of nature photographer Franz Bagyi's new book

On October 3rd, 2004, the last day of the photokina fair, the magazine Naturblick and Leica Camera AG will be raffling a total of 100 copies of the book ‚Verborgene Blicke’ – Ungewöhnliche Wege der Naturfotografie’ at the Leica booth (hall 2.2). The author, the well-known Leica photographer Franz Bagyi, will be at the Leica booth to sign them. Anyone donating at least five euros to the nature conservation project “Büngernsche/Dingdener Heide“ between September 28th and October 3rd, 2004 will automatically take part in the prize draw. Entry cards are available at the Sport Optics section of the Leica booth.

Further information on the Leica R-System http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/rsystem/index_e.html


__At the photokina: “Weitblick“ – the flying display of birds
of prey with free testing of Leica binoculars and scopes

The “Weitblick“ promotion offered for the first time at this year's photokina is an extra special event for nature lovers and birdwatchers. Every day from September 28th to October 3rd 2004, birdwatchers and nature lovers will have the opportunity to watch the flying display of the birds of prey of the game preserve Hellenthal from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors interested in watching the flying skills of a total of seven kinds of birds of prey (including eagles, vultures and various types of falcon) in more detail on a specially erected outside stage on the banks of the river Rhine can borrow Leica high-end binoculars and scopes free of charge. The flying display will be conducted under the expert control of a trained falconer at a distance of about 80 meters from the stage. The stage is on the Kennedy bank only a few steps from the main entrance to the Cologne fair. At the photokina weekend, the platform on the banks of the Rhine is open to the general public as well.

Further information on the Leica binoculars and spotting scopes http://www.leica-camera.com/sportoptik/produkte/index_e.html


__Your opinion counts! Win a LEICA DIGILUX 2

Participate in our online questionnaire regarding the Leica
Products and win a LEICA DIGILUX 2. The questionnaire is
available at
http://survey2.testraum.de/IntWeb.dll?IMODE=2&PROJECT=LEICA.LEICA-SITE.
The interview takes about 5 minutes of your time. All information
will of course be handled strictly confidential. Every participant
in the survey will take part in a raffle of the LEICA DIGILUX 2.
Good luck!

Further information on the LEICA DIGILUX 2
http://www.leica-camera.com/digitalekameras/digilux2/index_e.html


__Don’t miss LFI 07 / 2004! Available from September 29

Fresh samples with Digital Module R: Introducing the digital
back for the Leica R – LFI 07 / 2004 presents the new
product and pictures. After having publicised early samples
in LFI 06 / 2004, LFI now reveals a sequence of new test
images from one of the last pre-serial models. They confirm
that Leica will be living up to high expectations.

50 years of Leica M: Where’s the rangefinder system at
after half a century? Why the fascination? LFI takes a walk
down memory lane and points out the highlights and
particularities from 50 years of Leica M production. Also
illustrated, how Leica managed to transfer the principle of
precision manufacture to the present day.

M à la Carte: Flamboyant or inconspicuous, elaborate or
plain – launching November 1, M7 or MP customers will
have nearly 4000 component combinations at their disposal
and thus be able to select the preferred attributes for their
personal M. LFI speak with Jean-Jacques Viau, marketing
manager of the business unit Photo at Leica, on the story
behind the new project and how the offer is best taken
advantage of.

Portfolios: Dr Erich Salomon Prize for a life’s work: an
homage to the great photographer, Will McBride, whose
close personal relationships with his subjects manifested as
the central theme of his work. Oskar Barnack Prize 2004:
only 10 photographers made it into the jury’s shortlist. LFI
presents their work

Crystal screen technology: LFI is one of the world's first
magazines to adopt crystal screen printing technology. An
advantage for our readers is that photos can now be
reproduced in magazine print without a trace of the print
screen. LFI sets a new standard in the field of photography
magazines and thus creates truly ideal conditions for the
presentation of Leica photography.

Also, note our new book offer at LFI’s online book shop:
www.lfi-online.de/shop

Further information on the latest issue at:
http://www.leica-camera.com/markt/magazine/lfi/index_e.html

Subscribe now and receive two issues of LFI for free!
Order your personal one-year subscription at the regular
price of eight issues of LEICA FOTOGRAFIE
INTERNATIONAL for 60 euros/72 US-dollars (delivery
included). With our 2004 start-up initiative you get two
additional consecutive issues for free – pay for 8, receive
10! Subscribe online at www.lfi-online.com


With best regards,
Leica Camera AG
Corporate Communications
http://www.leica-camera.com/