....SO, that's what he calls all this death and destruction....

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saying he has "firmly planted the flag of liberty," President Bush on Wednesday expounded upon themes put forth in last week's inaugural address, promising to pursue democracy in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.

"A world without tyranny is an ideal world," the president said in opening remarks at a White House press conference.

Later, in response to a question about how Iraqis view dissent with Bush's policies in the United States, the president said: "I think the Iraqi people are wondering whether or not this nation has the will necessary to stand with them as a democracy evolves."

But he vowed to make history and pursue the goal of democracy worldwide.

"The fundamental question is: Can we advance that history?" the president asked rhetorically. "And that's what my inauguration speech said. It said yes we can.

"I firmly planted the flag of liberty for all to see that the United States of America hears their concerns and believes in their aspirations. And I am excited by the challenge and am honored to be able to lead our nation in the quest of this noble goal, which is freeing people in the name of peace."

Bush cited Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine and Iraq as places where elections are showing that people are hungering for democracy.

The president urged Iraqis to go to the polls despite insurgent threats of violence against anyone who participates in Sunday's voting.

"These terrorists do not have the best interests of the Iraqi people in mind," Bush said. "They have no positive agenda. They have no clear view of a better future. They're afraid of a free society."

Bush spoke only hours after word broke of the deadliest day for American forces in the Iraq war to date, including a helicopter crash that killed 31 U.S. personnel.

"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that," he said. "We value life, and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life. But it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom."

The 48-minute news conference came six days after Bush outlined a broad agenda to spread democracy worldwide in his inaugural address and a week before he gives his State of the Union address, in which advancing democracy is expected to play an important part.

On domestic issues, Bush vowed to take his case to overhaul Social Security directly to Americans to try to overcome skepticism in Congress on his plan to privatize part of the program.

"I just laid out the math; it is clear that now is the time to act," he said. President Clinton used a similar approach to get his programs through Congress, Bush said.

The president said he'll push for changes in the nation's immigration policy, saying labor from abroad is needed to do jobs Americans won't.

"Advancing a program that enables people to come into our country in a legal way to work for a period of time for jobs that Americans won't do will help make it easier for us to secure our borders," Bush said.

Bush pledged to work on tackling the nation's "twin deficits" -- the federal budget and foreign trade -- and said he'll work with the Congress on both.

"Obviously, we're going to have to work closely together to send the signal that we're willing to tackle some tough issues," the president said. "The budget I'll be submitting is one that says we'll spend money on projects that work, but we must make sure we're not wasting the taxpayers' money."

Bush also said no government money would go to media personalities to promote administration policies. Officials in the Education Department had paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote the president's No Child Left Behind program.

....OR People will do ANYTHING for money!  (on the show or off)

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- A viewer is suing NBC for $2.5 million, contending that he threw up because of a "Fear Factor" episode in which contestants ate rats mixed in a blender.

Austin Aitken told The Associated Press he watches "Fear Factor" often and had no problem with past installments where the reality show's participants ate worms and insects in pursuit of a $50,000 prize -- but eating rats went "too far."

"It's barbaric, some of the things they ask these individuals to do," Aitken said Thursday.

Aitken's handwritten lawsuit contends the rat-eating made his blood pressure rise, resulting in being dizzy and lightheaded -- and vomiting. Because he was disoriented he ran into a doorway, "causing suffering, injury and great pain."

Asked why he didn't shut off his television before the rat-eating segment, Aitken said he couldn't do it quick enough.

NBC responded with a brief statement: "We believe that the claim is completely without merit."

Aitken, a 49-year-old part-time paralegal, said he wants to send a message to NBC and other networks with the lawsuit. He said he isn't concerned with winning a cash judgment in court.

"I just put any figure. You really think I expect to get $2.5 million?" he said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

(CNN) -- A controversy is brewing over a U.S. State Department decision to put identification chips inside all new passport covers, a program scheduled to start by late 2005.

The passport chips differ from those now commonly used for building entry or identifying the family dog. Those chips only provide one piece of information -- a unique identification number -- when pinged by a radio receiver.

The passport chips will hold much more data, from 64 kilobytes to eventually 514 kilobytes, as much as the first personal computers. They will hold the same information as a paper passport plus a digitized photo and face template for the still-unproven facial recognition software, which also is supposed to identify you from a distance, unnoticed.

The fact that passport data can be read unencrypted, with no physical contact, from up to 30 feet away, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, upsets privacy advocates for two reasons.

First, groups such as the ACLU note that information on your activities could be collected by government agencies (or commercial and marketing interests) without your knowledge.

The ACLU obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act that it says show how the U.S. government pushed the idea of unencrypted chips through the standards-setting International Civil Aviation Association over objections from Germany, Britain and other nations. The ACLU says the United States is trying to get a global biometric database online with little debate within the United States, where there is strong resistance to a national I.D. card (see the link to the ACLU white paper in the sidebar to read more).

Second, many people are concerned that criminal or terrorist "data-skimmers" could set up chip readers to grab information from your passport and find out more about you, or "clone" your information and make fake passports, again without your knowledge.

The State Department says it doesn't want to encrypt that data because the system will be too expensive for poorer nations to implement. It says it is still working on a way to block the free range broadcast of unencrypted personal information, and for now at least, the readers are too big for criminals to carry around.

Privacy advocates say a "smart card" swipe system like credit cards would have been just as efficient and far more secure, but passports couldn't be read without a person knowing about it. Awareness that one is being watched seems to be a key sticking point on both sides of this issue.

If the system is implemented, there are steps you can take to protect your personal data from skimmers.

Wrapping your passport in aluminum foil actually works. It is called a "Faraday Cage," and it's the same thing that protects you from the microwaves as you watch your popcorn pop. The foil blocks electromagnetic waves so a nearby chip reader can't force your passport chip to perk up and say "howdy."

Try it out with your work I.D. card or a toll-booth pass. I wouldn't recommend wrapping your micro-chipped dog in Reynolds Wrap, however. Neighbors might think you were planning a barbecue.