Russian author gunned down

Russian author/reporter Anna Politkovskaya has been killed in Moscow. Her book, Putin's Russia, was published overseas but never in her native land.

Liberals will surely rush to draw parallels between what appears to be an act of murder with the "pattern" of human rights violations, media suppression, and general disinformation allegedly fostered by Bush. Of course, those critics will ignore the fact that 6 of the 16 hardcovers on the NYT's political bestsellers are criticisms of the Bush Administration. (And this count doesn't include books by authors, such as Friedman and Huffington, who are also Bush critics.)

The contrast of this list and the murder of Politkovskaya is telling, but not in the way liberals think. Freedom of speech in the U.S. is alive and well in our country -- even when members of the media show poor judgment.