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Saturday, December 03, 2005

On: The State of Democracy


Good Ol' American Propaganda

Does anyone remember the lambasting of the state of the Iraqi media before invasion? One of the major trumpet calls for the march of freedom was Saddam's ownership of the media. Censoring articles, planting fake stories -- you know, generally tampering with freedom of speech. In a saldy unsurprising display of "If'n-ya-cain't-beat-'em-join-'em," the US Government decides it's tired of trying to win Iraqi support honorably and starts buying off the media.

Officials said the practice of intentionally misleading citizens in this way was "customary."

Said the President, "We tried freedom. Didn't work. Them Iraqi's --- they just don't understand it. Too much sun or somethin'. So, we go with what works. Throw some money around. Yeehaw!" He then waved a white cowboy hat in the air and rode a broomstick horse out of the press room.

While this is a fascinating little story, it doesn't allow me to comlain about the steady march toward fascism in America, seeing as how it didn't really happen in America. But, on a somewhat related note, and to satisfy that old liberal blogger itch, some food for thought:

The FBI planted a Democratic nominee in the 2004 Charleston, W.Va. Primary. A government agency planted a candidate in a public election. The man, Thomas Esposito, ran the campaign like any other candidate, even taking donations, with full knowledge he would drop out of the race before election. He didn't drop out in time to stay off the ballot, though, meaning almost 2,200 votes were completely wasted.

FBI officials said the plant was a nescessary part of a campaign corruption investigation. The plan was actually successful; Perry French Harvey Jr. was arrested for taking $2,000 earmarked for vote-buying. Entrapment issues aside, one wonders why the candidate was a Democrat. But, I digress.

The Point: Our government, for all its self-aggrandising priggishness and fascesque nationalism, is just as corrupt as any in the "Axis of Evil," and our Coalition buddies are just as prone to violence as our enemies.

End Rant.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You don't understand why they had to make the plant a Democrat? Let's just say they don't go looking for hackers in the Amish community.

1/13/2006 02:34:00 PM  

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