"The Saudi government has spent millions of dollars on well-connected lobbyists and national television advertisements since Sept. 11 in a drive to improve its image among Americans and is poised to spend more as the anniversary of the events approaches," The New York Times' Christopher Marquis reports. "In all, the Saudis have hired several public relations firms and have already spent more than $5 million, according to new Justice Department filings.

"Can A Sitting President Be Charged With Plagiarism?" asks TomPaine.com's New York Times op-ad. "As President Bush wages his war against terrorism and moves to create a huge homeland security apparatus, he appears to be borrowing heavily, if not ripping off ideas outright, from George Orwell's 1984," writes Daniel Kurtzman, a San Francisco writer and former Washington political correspondent. "1984 was intended as a warning about the evils of totalitarianism -- not a how-to manual."

Fox TV pundit Sean Hannity has a book out, titled Let Freedom Ring. Spinsanity.org analyzes its rhetoric, calling it "a poorly researched effort full of blatant falsehoods and highly distorted versions of the truth. ... Hannity seems on the brink of becoming America's leading conservative pundit. Let Freedom Ring is troubling evidence that Hannity won't let a little thing like truth get in the way of his rapid ascent."