Freedom House brands Russia "Not Free"

U.S.-based human rights organization Freedom House says that, for the first time since 1991, Russia has slipped from a rating of "partly free" to "not free". In spite of this, the Bush administration continues to give Putin political cover as he re-establishes a totalitarian state. Read the article here. On the bright side, the same annual study found that freedom is expanding around the world. According to its director, former CIA director James Wolsey, almost half the nations in the world are now democratic. This is more than double the number recorded in 1972, however there is still much to be done. Read the complete report here.

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A note on political discourse and posting on this site. I am a fervent advocate of free speech and honest, respectable debate and I abhor censorship. That said, I found a couple of recent posts to this site rather troubling. A non-Christian posted advocating violence against Christians and using inappropriate language in the effort. A Christian then responded passing moral judgment on his soul. This entire exchange is disturbing and, frankly, deeply stupid. Both posters pandered to the worst impressions that people have about their opponents on this issue and revealed themselves to be anti-intellectual reactionaries. I strive to foster dialog, not diatribes. If you are not interested in revealing the quality of you character by engaging in a brisk, yet respectful expression of your views, there are plenty of web sites where closed-minded demagogues gather to parrot hate speech. This is not one of them. I don't care what ideology or position you advocate so long as you do it with integrity, respect and dignity for both yourself and my readers. That said, I have decided not to remove the offending posts because I do believe in free expression and the right of people to access and reject for themselves that sort of hateful and ignorant content. - F2S