Where the fark is the actual list with the rankings?

Nadie_AZ: Here's the fix for this:

Tie all pensions and retirement benefits of all members of Congress to the ratings of our nation versus those around the world. If our number rises, they get a better pension/benefit. If it lowers, they get a worse pension/benefit.

This idea of short term profit and just do enough to reelect yourself in the next election is short sighted and not helpful at all. It's time to give these idiots incentive to want to improve our nation long term- and if money is the only way to do it, then so be it.

A better solution is to simply remove money from politics. Fin. Voila. Fix'd. Or at least the f*ckery is minimized

/money and politics = oil and water -- shake it around and you usually just get a douche

BullBearMS: [dl.dropbox.com image 511x346]

If I recall, you're equally outraged by Bush's unprecedented expansion of Free Speech Zones and every other Constitutional violation that the FAS-afflicted dolt provided us with.

/iokiyar

It's not like Americans were using it for anything.

Nadie_AZ: Here's the fix for this:

Tie all pensions and retirement benefits of all members of Congress to the ratings of our nation versus those around the world. If our number rises, they get a better pension/benefit. If it lowers, they get a worse pension/benefit.

This idea of short term profit and just do enough to reelect yourself in the next election is short sighted and not helpful at all. It's time to give these idiots incentive to want to improve our nation long term- and if money is the only way to do it, then so be it.

It's helpful to themselves. They can get another $200 steak dinner with a $350 bottle of wine that tastes the same to them as Franzia.

When you're trying to get the last drops of juice out of that orange you really need to squeeze, biatch. When your betters get that out of you and flee to Dubai, you can guillotine the few dopes that couldn't afford to get away.

BullBearMS: [dl.dropbox.com image 511x346]

oh no not that guy

[censored]

But... Obama

GAT_00: SoxSweepAgain: TheTrashcanMan: Where the fark is the actual list with the rankings?

First thing I looked for, then scanned the article.

/Left disappointed.

I do like the article, though; it's based upon Reporters Without Borders, an organization I generally trust.

Link

Now with clickable form. We're tied with Taiwan, Argentina and Romania. Botswana is considered to have more freedom of press than the supposed Home of the Free.

I called the first two. I was actually having trouble deciding which one to call for 1st. And then they tied. Pretty obvious, when you think about it.

MOOT!

Those boot-lickers wouldn't ask a real question if their lives depended on it.

BullBearMS:

farking Bush.

// in before that's the joke.

Wondering how hard it would be to get a student visa for Sweden....

I don't understand where you got this idea,
so deeply engrained in your head
that this world is something that you must impress,
cause I couldn't care less

gameshowhost: A better solution is to simply remove money from politics. Fin. Voila. Fix'd. Or at least the f*ckery is minimized

/money and politics = oil and water -- shake it around and you usually just get a douche

Power is power. You won't get anything to fundamentally change in politics by removing money. There are plenty of other ways to trade favor.

You'll just get a vinegar and water douche instead.

Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose........

FTA:

The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

Interesting.

How can Somalia be so low? They don't have any *laws*.

The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests

Given the amount of coverage OWS got, I'm finding it hard to say that the press was limited from reporting on it. The question of whether the OWS people themselves should have been arrested is another matter, but the fact that people inside that group couldn't simply say "I'm a reporter" and not be arrested doesn't seem out of line.

If they just look at the number of arrests of journalists and use that as the metric for how 'free' the press is in that country... well, crappy metrics lead to crappy results.

FarkLiter: The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests

Given the amount of coverage OWS got, I'm finding it hard to say that the press was limited from reporting on it. The question of whether the OWS people themselves should have been arrested is another matter, but the fact that people inside that group couldn't simply say "I'm a reporter" and not be arrested doesn't seem out of line.

If they just look at the number of arrests of journalists and use that as the metric for how 'free' the press is in that country... well, crappy metrics lead to crappy results.

This.

47 out of 179

BullBearMS: [dl.dropbox.com image 511x346]

The media in this country has failed so spectacularly that they apparently did not even challenge the constitutionality of that. Has anyone got a citation that proves me wrong there? It's like the media has decided that it is bad for business to challenge the government.

lordargent: 47 out of 179

And North Korea is 178......so there is one less free country

The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

Hmm, somehow I doubt their arrest was DUE to their covering OWS, but rather participating or being confused with participators. Plus they were all released within hours or the next day at the latest. Sorry, not gonna get all worked up that we're suppressing the media in this country.

Who the heck was #1?

Whose freedom of the press is being denied?

There is a political agenda behind these rankings. How exactly is the index being gauged? Wouldn't surprise me if Soros is somewhere in the background pulling the strings.

Expecting OWS crackdowns, charging reporters for FOIA requests and attempts to defund NPR and PBS because of critical reporting.

[checks article]

Meh, one out of three.

This text is now purple: How can Somalia be so low? They don't have any *laws*.

Have you tried being a reporter there?

theknuckler_33: The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

Hmm, somehow I doubt their arrest was DUE to their covering OWS, but rather participating or being confused with participators. Plus they were all released within hours or the next day at the latest. Sorry, not gonna get all worked up that we're suppressing the media in this country.

Who the heck was #1?

But that logic doesn't make America look bad. Remember, we have to feel bad, because of all of our success.

theknuckler_33: Who the heck was #1?

Norway

theknuckler_33: The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

Hmm, somehow I doubt their arrest was DUE to their covering OWS, but rather participating or being confused with participators. Plus they were all released within hours or the next day at the latest. Sorry, not gonna get all worked up that we're suppressing the media in this country.

Who the heck was #1?

Finland.

The country that's perfect for pony-trekking, camping, or just watching TV.

Canada is 10th btw.

BullBearMS: [dl.dropbox.com image 511x346]

"Was that BEFORE OR AFTER you noticed you were standing in a lake of GASOLINE, YOU IDIOT?"

Nadie_AZ: Here's the fix for this:

Tie all pensions and retirement benefits of all members of Congress to the ratings of our nation versus those around the world. If our number rises, they get a better pension/benefit. If it lowers, they get a worse pension/benefit.

This idea of short term profit and just do enough to reelect yourself in the next election is short sighted and not helpful at all. It's time to give these idiots incentive to want to improve our nation long term- and if money is the only way to do it, then so be it.

While this isn't a bad idea, they also have to care about their pensions in the first place. When being a corrupt douchebag gets you a 50k/year pension and a 2 mil/year bribery check from Hollywood, I don't think you care if you lose the 50k. Your idea paired with a serious crackdown on bribery, on the other hand, would actually work.

Article: Detailed summary of the sometimes improving, sometimes declining set of very real and terrible issues of suppression and oppression in sub-saharan Africa, a mix of good news, bad news, and disappointingly unchanged news about conditions there.

Article according to subby: The relatively miniscule social differences required to distinguish the top 50 or so near-identical sociopolitical environments of the western first-world democracies have bumped the US down a few relatively unimportant spaces! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! EVERYBODY PANIC!


Seriously, I'm as Amerophilic as the next random internet guy, but come the fark on, Subs. Sometimes we aren't the most important part of the damned story. Especially in these kinds of rankings, where the differences aren't generally very large for the first-world democracies and the people doing the analysis enjoy giving us a poke by intentionally weighting the statistics on the grounds that the big dog needs to be deflated a bit. Taking a relatively interesting article about global politics with a focus on Africa and trying to make it about the US is just retarded.

This text is now purple: How can Somalia be so low? They don't have any *laws*.

You mean the libertarian paradise of Somalia was unable to resolve obstacles surrounding limited press freedoms through free-market forces? Inconceivable!

theknuckler_33: The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

Hmm, somehow I doubt their arrest was DUE to their covering OWS, but rather participating or being confused with participators. Plus they were all released within hours or the next day at the latest. Sorry, not gonna get all worked up that we're suppressing the media in this country.

Who the heck was #1?

Finland and Norway, the two boringest, most law-abiding populations on Earth.

evoke: Whose freedom of the press is being denied?

There is a political agenda behind these rankings. How exactly is the index being gauged? Wouldn't surprise me if Soros is somewhere in the background pulling the strings.

must Canada always out perform the US and the Americas?

Up 11 spots to 21st.. under Stephen Harpers regime no less, the other countries must be super duper secretive

CokeBear: This text is now purple: How can Somalia be so low? They don't have any *laws*.

Have you tried being a reporter there?

There's a difference between free and safe.

I meant up 11 spots to 10th place (Canada)

evoke: Whose freedom of the press is being denied?

There is a political agenda behind these rankings. How exactly is the index being gauged? Wouldn't surprise me if Soros is somewhere in the background pulling the strings.

Oh c'mon dude! You know you're not supposed to troll this hard when you come out of the starting gate.

You have to be subtle about it and eventually work up to saying something so absurd and stupid.

Do I have to teach you everything?