Tom Ridge (jerk) cracks down on world press freedoms [Archive]

Cygnus X-1

Dec 31, 03, 11:24 pm

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,8284793,00.html

"Border control now falls under the auspices of the newly created Department of Homeland Security and Media understands the crackdown happened in January after the appointment of new department secretary Tom Ridge"

International media is having trouble coming to the USA according to this article coming from Australia's "The Australian" newspaper. Will they do the same to Rupert Murdock?? This Bush Administration has got to go in the 2004 election. My New Year's Resolution is to vote against George W. Bush, and this year, I'm going to keep it!

TxLobo

Jan 2, 04, 10:01 pm

These provisions have been enforced fairly often..... I had to buy the Canadian equivalent two years ago when working in Canada (let my Canadian Passport expire and didn't have time to renew it) and I have Canadian friends who buy the same Visa to work short periods of time in the US.

No reason that the Media should be exempted from them....

We can do without the commentary about BUSH, the vast majority of Americans appreciate the FINE job he is doing and support him 100%. This is terribly off base for Flyertalk.

Moderator please edit the political statements....

Thanks

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Oracle Implementations .... Will Travel....

us2

Jan 2, 04, 10:48 pm

Originally posted by TxLobo:
These provisions have been enforced fairly often..... I had to buy the Canadian equivalent two years ago when working in Canada (let my Canadian Passport expire and didn't have time to renew it) and I have Canadian friends who buy the same Visa to work short periods of time in the US.

No reason that the Media should be exempted from them....

We can do without the commentary about BUSH, the vast majority of Americans appreciate the FINE job he is doing and support him 100%. This is terribly off base for Flyertalk.

Moderator please edit the political statements....

Thanks



Vast majority? Hardly, the polls are split. There are many of us who think he's the worst president we've ever seen, in the words of Dick Gephardt, a "miserable failure."

PW1P

Jan 2, 04, 10:48 pm

Murdoch became a US citizen in the 80's to get around foreign media ownership rules, and needs no visa.

“Monopoly is a terrible thing until you have it.” – Rupert Murdoch

TxLobo

Jan 2, 04, 11:18 pm

Originally posted by us2:
Vast majority? Hardly, the polls are split. There are many of us who think he's the worst president we've ever seen, in the words of Dick Gephardt, a "miserable failure."

63% favorable rating is hardly a split, but as I stated before these types of political comments have no basis on this forum....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-12-26-approval-ratings_x.htm

Thanks

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Oracle Implementations .... Will Travel....

[This message has been edited by TxLobo (edited Jan 02, 2004).]

GUWonder

Jan 2, 04, 11:58 pm

Originally posted by TxLobo:
63% favorable rating is hardly a split, but as I stated before these types of political comments have no basis on this forum....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-12-26-approval-ratings_x.htm (http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-12-26-approval-ratings_x.htm)

Thanks



Clinton had 63% approval ratings too, so if that's not a split, I guess you were pro-Clinton all the way too. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Felix Unger

Jan 3, 04, 12:09 am

Didn't everyone hear? This forum exists only for the purpose of turning news stories into political jabs and thrusts.

Which is a shame.

ByrdluvsAWACO

Jan 3, 04, 12:56 am

We can do without the commentary about BUSH, the vast majority of Americans appreciate the FINE job he is doing and support him 100%


Vast majority? Try looking outside of Texas.

--------------------------------------------
An illegitimate war started by an illegitimate president.

anrkitec

Jan 3, 04, 1:15 am

Originally posted by TxLobo:
We can do without the commentary about BUSH, the vast majority of Americans appreciate the FINE job he is doing and support him 100%. This is terribly off base for Flyertalk.

Moderator please edit the political statements....

Please tell me this that this [IMHO] ridiculous comment was tongue-in-check. Otherwise, one big http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif from me.

Something that you may not have already gleaned from your eleven months on the boards is that, generally and save for the individual airline forums and maybe Coupon Connection, politics in all of its forms and guises is an integral part of the rest of FT. Then again, there are many, many other travel related BB's.

Just a friendly suggestion but if you don't like political commentary then by all means don't insert any into your posts. Why not then let everyone else worry about their own content to the extent that it is within the FT TOS [hint: political commentary is permitted by the FT TOS http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif].

As for the article, control of one inept department of government was recently turned over to another, newer and even more inept department. What can you expect?

LLZ

Jan 3, 04, 2:00 am

Originally posted by ByrdluvsAWACO:
Vast majority? Try looking outside of Texas.



Actually, you could just venture outside of Midland to find some http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Marco Polo

Jan 3, 04, 3:18 am

Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced yesterday that the five colors on the terror alert scale just aren't enough, and plans to add a sixth color - lavender - to the list.
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i1530

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

DallaStarwooDelta

Jan 3, 04, 12:28 pm

Originally posted by ByrdluvsAWACO:
Vast majority? Try looking outside of Texas.



Why?? So we can see this Outside of Texas (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/election/map.htm)

Pretty soon only CA, NY and MA will be the only blue one left.

anrkitec

Jan 3, 04, 1:17 pm

Originally posted by DallaStarwooDelta:
Why?? So we can see this Outside of Texas (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/election/map.htm)

Pretty soon only CA, NY and MA will be the only blue one left.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, if the same percentages of the four primary racial groups [White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian] vote the same as they did in 2000, the Democrats will take Florida, Arizona, and possibly even Texas regardless of who the Democratic challenger is.

Needless to say that this countries fastest growing racial demographic is Hispanic and they have historically voted Democratic.

Who knows, but 2004 will be interesting.

[This message has been edited by anrkitec (edited Jan 03, 2004).]

RS

Jan 3, 04, 1:23 pm

Originally posted by TxLobo:
These provisions have been enforced fairly often..... I had to buy the Canadian equivalent two years ago when working in Canada (let my Canadian Passport expire and didn't have time to renew it) and I have Canadian friends who buy the same Visa to work short periods of time in the US.

No reason that the Media should be exempted from them....

We can do without the commentary about BUSH, the vast majority of Americans appreciate the FINE job he is doing and support him 100%. This is terribly off base for Flyertalk.

Moderator please edit the political statements....

Thanks

------------------
Oracle Implementations .... Will Travel....


As long as you're inviting moderators to squelch political speech, why not review the excerpt below from FlyerTalk's Guidelines and Rules and then ask them to remove your commercial advertising tag line about Oracle consulting.

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jerry crump

Jan 3, 04, 2:14 pm

Originally posted by TxLobo:

Moderator please edit the political statements....

Thanks



I second that

RS

Jan 3, 04, 2:21 pm

It is an outrage that anyone's reaction to our country offending foreign journalists with bureaucratic deportation is to whine to FlyerTalk's moderators to edit out criticism of the leader of that bureaucracy.

The political comments in this thread are totally appropriate. The original poster, I guess, opposes this high-handed deportation approach to journalists and criticizes Ridge and Bush for it. If you disagree then tell us why.

[This message has been edited by RS (edited Jan 03, 2004).]

richard

Jan 3, 04, 2:22 pm

let's return to the subject of this thread. If you do not have anything to add to the subject, please do not post here.

--richard, moderator

DallaStarwooDelta

Jan 3, 04, 9:28 pm

Originally posted by anrkitec:
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, if the same percentages of the four primary racial groups [White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian] vote the same as they did in 2000, the Democrats will take Florida, Arizona, and possibly even Texas is.....
[This message has been edited by anrkitec (edited Jan 03, 2004).]

Texas?????

ROTFLMAO

Cygnus X-1

Jan 3, 04, 10:48 pm

Originally posted by TxLobo:
We can do without the commentary about BUSH, the vast majority of Americans appreciate the FINE job he is doing and support him 100%. This is terribly off base for Flyertalk.

I am the original poster and according to the article I posted, the "extra visa" was imposed on the foreign media without warnings nor the ability to just get it when arriving. Forcing them to go through a horrible process and being shipped back to their home country for the red-tape to get the correct documents is wrong. Their complaints echo a clamp-down on foreign free press by Tom Ridge. The article specifically mentions him as the culprit of this imposition. Personally, Ridge looks and acts moronic, a refugee from a Whitey Bulger style mob and he is acting the part scaring Americans with many bogus policies, colour systems, announcements and halting planes because of 5 year old boys and Chinese women on board.

The political comments are correct and appropriate. The vast majority of Americans who voted in the 2000 election did not elect Bush; only to be be suckered punched with a weak President in office a year later. In fact, only the less educated and lost, mind-manipulated ideologists support Bush. Not the scientific, not the smart, not the environmentalists and certainly not those forced into Walmart settings for life.

He will lose the election. He has only the entertainment media (FOX, Clear Channel, right winged talk shows and their callers) of claimed support (which doesn't really exist), but really now...who wants him? I mean really, can't we have better? Don't think the majority will be afraid to vote against not just him, but his administration...only the fear to talk against his administration exists and was imposed by such.

Speak out! Don't be afraid to lock your checked bags, or climb the Statue of Liberty (oh yes, Bush says you cannot climb it). 2004 has to be the year Americans can be free at last. Seize the moment.

To conclude, the US is polarized and I have never seen or heard so many people so angered by this President than any other. The support is bogus, the anger is real.

[This message has been edited by Cygnus X-1 (edited Jan 03, 2004).]

RS

Jan 3, 04, 11:12 pm

Cygnus, I'm with you!

You are correct about Ridge looking and acting like a moron. Now I realize that looks can be deceiving sometimes and once in a while someone who looks and talks like an idiot turns out to be pretty sharp. But, boy oh boy is this guy a loser. I wouldn't hire him to work in my company's mail room. He does make Bush look better, though.

In case you haven't seen this, check out:

www.toostupidtobepresident.com (http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com)

Now, I agree with your comments about why Bush should lose, but I'm beginning to think that if Bush, Rove et al are willing to spend the country's money on this latest hoax of an Orange threat without mainstream media laughing at it, then our country's populace may be suckered in for another four more years. Bush, Rove et al will start another war to get elected if necessary.

You do realize that both of us would disappear tomorrow if the FBI and Ashcroft reviewed this site. So if you don't see my posts for a while...

UALOneKPlus

Jan 3, 04, 11:25 pm

Tom Ridget defends himself (http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum44/HTML/018671.html).

Spiff

Jan 4, 04, 5:36 am

"He will lose the election. He has only the entertainment media (FOX, Clear Channel, right winged talk shows and their callers) of claimed support (which doesn't really exist), but really now...who wants him? I mean really, can't we have better? Don't think the majority will be afraid to vote against not just him, but his administration...only the fear to talk against his administration exists and was imposed by such.

Speak out! Don't be afraid to lock your checked bags, or climb the Statue of Liberty (oh yes, Bush says you cannot climb it). 2004 has to be the year Americans can be free at last. Seize the moment.

To conclude, the US is polarized and I have never seen or heard so many people so angered by this President than any other. The support is bogus, the anger is real."

I hope you're right. I didn't think I'd be so dissatisfied with this regime, but it's proven itself to be the most un-American in decades.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Cygnus X-1

Jan 4, 04, 11:08 am

Originally posted by RS:
but I'm beginning to think that if Bush, Rove et al are willing to spend the country's money on this latest hoax of an Orange threat without mainstream media laughing at it

Well, notice that only FOX NEWS has the "Terror Alert - High" icon on their broadcasts 24/7 and no one else. I think that says it all with their attempts at visual hypnotism to shake people's hands at voting time. It may result in lawsuits about visual moving TV icons all the way from Spike TV, Fox, CNN, MTV, spinning globes on MSNBC, spinning ABC "This Week" icons and more. All forms of media hypnotism.

Back on the subject, no one should support any government that crackdowns on the press freedoms, based on the complaint from the original article I posted.

andrzej

Jan 4, 04, 11:43 am

Originally posted by Cygnus X-1:
I am the original poster and according to the article I posted, the "extra visa" was imposed on the foreign media without warnings nor the ability to just get it when arriving. Forcing them to go through a horrible process and being shipped back to their home country for the red-tape to get the correct documents is wrong. Their complaints echo a clamp-down on foreign free press by Tom Ridge. The article specifically mentions him as the culprit of this imposition.

I do have many problems, questions about what's going on in our country these days as well, but your assertion that this is some form of crack down on world press freedoms is IMHO ridiculous. If you think about it, would it not be counterproductive to piss off the journalists/reporters. If I'm one of these reporters and I get turned around at the border, have to fly back, what's the first thing I do when I get home? I use any and all means to get the word out, and as a reporter I do have the ways and means. If I did want to control the world press, I would prefer to have them here, where I could manipulate them, use some laws to shut them up, etc..., NOT have them run around back home, after I pissed them off, to do whatever they please.

InterflugIL62

Jan 7, 04, 4:41 am

You could always report from Niagara Falls(Canada).

InterflugIL62

Jan 7, 04, 4:59 am

Ok, just read the article.

<off the record, thanks > scares the hell out of me >>>

SPN Lifer

Jan 7, 04, 5:08 am

Originally posted by RS:
The political comments in this thread are totally appropriate. The original poster, I guess, opposes this high-handed deportation approach to journalists and criticizes Ridge and Bush for it. If you disagree then tell us why.Several people on this thread seem to have forgotten that the immigration statutes (which the Executive Branch has sworn a solemn oath to uphold and defend) at issue here were passed well before the incumbent appeared on the scene.

Major changes to our immigration laws have occurred regularly since 1952.

Without doing the statutory research, it is safe to say that at least one house of Congress passing the "despised" work restrictions was Democratic, and most certainly Mr. Bush had nothing to do with enacting those laws.

Can you imagine the howling if he and his cabinetdidn't faithfully execute the law?

RS

Jan 7, 04, 11:34 am

Originally posted by SPN Lifer:
...Mr. Bush had nothing to do with enacting those laws.

Can you imagine the howling if he and his cabinetdidn't faithfully execute the law?

One name - Ken Lay. Howl.

Cygnus X-1

Jan 7, 04, 1:25 pm

Originally posted by SPN Lifer:
and most certainly Mr. Bush had nothing to do with enacting those laws.

Department of "Homeland" Security? US Patri"not" Act based on fear? Maybe, it is the way Mr. Bush and his boys are interpreting these laws that is getting a voting majority quite angered.

Admiral James Loy was on C-SPAN the morning of 01/07/2004 and I found it strange that many who called in had no questions related to airline security or any security for that matter, whilst the Admiral answered what came in in great length until time was up. Was it the disinformation campaign clogging the phone lines? Curious indeed.

InterflugIL62

Jan 7, 04, 5:31 pm

I understand the need for more security, but let us not go overboard. We will lose friends around the world and quickly so, that I do NOT want.

Cygnus X-1

Jan 7, 04, 9:27 pm

bump

[This message has been edited by Cygnus X-1 (edited Jan 07, 2004).]

Newsstand - Tom Ridge (jerk) cracks down on world press freedoms