QUICK STAT:

Please give what you can.

LAND OF THE FREE

Why is it that every time I watch congressional hearings or see these leaders on TV they site National Security or say I'm not going to talk about classified matters.

I'm thinking maybe we aren't so free after all.

IT'S "ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE" THAT ABRAMOFF WAS "A CLOSE FRIEND"

Tom DeLay is trying to set the record straight and rebuild his credibility. He wrote the following note trying to explain that he didn't know old what's his name.

A final word on Jack Abramoff: The notion that he was a close friend who welded influence over me is absolutely untrue.

As whip and Majority Leader, I met with many people who brought issues before congress and sought support of both Republicans and Democrats.

The reality is Jack Abramoff and I were not close personal friends. I met with him only occasionally, in fact less frequently than numerous others who brought issues before congress - never did he receive preferential treatment. To be certain . . .

As I've said before these guys have yet to learn that we live in a digital age with cameras, tape recorders and other devices to record your every move and thought. So where would anyone get the crazy idea that DeLay was close friends with Abramoff?

WELL IT COULD BE FROM HIS VERY OWN WORDS.

DeLay, Northern Mariana Islands, 1997:

When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made.

DeLay's campaign to rehabilitate his credibility isn't off to a good start.

IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID

AVERAGE AMERICAN FAMILY INCOME DECLINES

After the booming 1990s when incomes and stock prices were soaring, this decade has been less of a thrill ride for most American families.

Average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually fell from 2001 to 2004, and the growth in net worth was the weakest in a decade, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

Many families were struggling in the aftermath of the 2001 recession and the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000, the Fed's latest "Survey of Consumer Finances" showed. The comprehensive look at household balance sheets comes every three years.

Average family incomes, after adjusting for inflation, fell to $70,700 in 2004, a drop of 2.3 percent when compared with 2001. That was the weakest showing since a decline of 11.3 percent from 1989 to 1992, a period that also covered a recession.

The average incomes had soared by 17.3 percent in the 1998-2001 period and 12.3 percent from 1995 to 1998 as the country enjoyed the longest economic expansion in history.

Just ask yourself are you better off today then you were back in 2000.

THE CAFFERTY FILE

Here is Jack Cafferty's take on the Port issue. Pretty good.

Watch the VIDEO.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

NO WORDS NEEDED

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

George W. Bush:

* "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family " . . .

TECH SUPPORT

Customer:  Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, 
I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'.  
I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, 
but the computer still says he can't find it... 

THE WORST FOR TODAY

Watch the VIDEO.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )