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Scandals
and Lies
March 29, 2002
By Bridget Gibson
 "If
we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind,
it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according
to our will without their knowing it." - Edward Bernays,
a nephew of Sigmund Freud, America's No. 1 Publicist in the
1920's
When is a scandal not a scandal? When a scandal appears to
be connected with a member of the Republican Party, it is
not reported as a "scandal." Only when a member of the Democratic
Party has involvement in anything that broaches the questionable
grey area is something "determined" to be a "scandal."
After an eight year-long investigation of William Jefferson
and Hillary Clinton was concluded with "no evidence," it is
still reported as a "scandal." That $70 million in taxpayer
dollars and untold hours were devoted to finding something,
anything, to throw at the Clintons has shown that there was
nothing to throw. The media (and I mean the major corporate
media) still consider it to be a "scandal." One that just
won't go away. One that has to be lied about and drummed constantly
into the psyche of the American public until something resonates.
What is resonating are the words that have been repeated endlessly
until almost everyone can recite them verbatim.
But let me tell you what was not a "scandal."
There was no "scandal" when Republican President George Herbert
Walker Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger with an indictment
filed against him, thus avoiding any questions regarding the
involvement of that same Republican President in the Iran-Contra
Affair. There was no "scandal" when a partisan court appointed
the highest elected official in this country.
There was no "scandal" when an intern was found dead of mysterious
causes in Florida Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough's
office. There was no "scandal" when Republican Mayor Philip
Giordano of Waterbury, Connecticut was caught and charged
as a sexual predator of young girls.
There was no "scandal" when the Republican President George
Walker Bush nominated Theodore Olson (investigated for obstruction
of justice and lying to Congress during the Superfund investigation)
to the office of Solicitor General. There was no "scandal"
when Florida Governor Jeb Bush's daughter, Noelle Bush, was
charged with felony fraud in obtaining a controlled substance.
There was no "scandal" when Republican President George Walker
Bush's daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, then 18, were convicted
with using illegally obtained and false identification to
obtain alcohol. There was no "scandal" when Mark A. Grethen,
a Republican activist, nominated for "Republican of the Year"
was convicted and is serving a more than 20 year sentence
in prison for six counts of sex crimes involving children.
There was no "scandal" when Wendy Gramm, the wife of prominent
Republican Senator Phil Gramm, approved illegal partnerships
and waived the code of ethics for those partnership formations
while on the Board of Directors of Enron. There is no "scandal"
when Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay (Enron and Lay contributed $2.16
Million to Republicans in the 2000 election cycle) the largest
contributor to the sitting Republican President, George Walker
Bush, currently being investigated for leading one of the
largest American companies, Enron, into bankruptcy following
fraudulently filed earnings reports.
There was no "scandal" when Enron was allowed to price-gouge
consumers and the sitting Republican President George Walker
Bush refused to allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee
(FERC) to impose price caps to control excess profiteering.
There was no "scandal" when the current sitting Republican
President George Walker Bush appointed Elliott Abrams (convicted
of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair) to the
Human Rights Commission of the United Nations.
There was no "scandal" when John Ashcroft, the current Republican
Attorney General, spuriously gave a "reprieve" and discontinued
the lawfully entered agreement for damages to The Adams Mark
Hotel, owned by Fred S. Kummer Jr, a personal friend and $25,700
senatorial campaign contributor, for charges of serious violations
of racial discrimination.
There was no "scandal" when key figures, John Negroponte
(complicit in the Honduran Death Squads), Richard Armitage
(linked to illegal arms transfers and CIA drug-running operations),
Otto Reich (propaganda operative), John Poindexter (convicted
of conspiracy {obstruction of inquiries and proceedings, false
statements, falsification, destruction and removal of documents};
two counts of obstruction of Congress and two counts of false
statements) of the Iran-Contra Affair have re-appeared in
official governmental positions by appointment by George Walker
Bush, the sitting Republican President, the son of the former
Republican President, George Herbert Walker Bush, for whom
these men worked.
There is no "scandal" when the current Republican Vice President
Richard Cheney refuses to release what should be public records
of meetings held in the formulation of public policy (The
Energy Policy) after being ordered to do so by three Federal
Judges (U. S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, U.S. District
Judge Emmet Sullivan and U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman).
There is no "scandal" when the personal fortune of George
Walker Bush, the sitting Republican President, is being bolstered
by governmental war contracts to The Carlyle Group, partially
owned by his father, former Republican President, George Herbert
Walker Bush.
The only exception to this "scandal" rule that you will be
able to easily recall is the Watergate scandal presided over
by Republican President Richard Milhouse Nixon, who was forced
to resign his office in disgrace.
Don't worry about those "scandals," you know the "liberal"
major media corporations (Rupert Murdoch of FOX - $30,033
to RNC... AOL/Time Warner/Walter Isaacson of CNN - $6,150
to RNC... GE/Jack Welch of NBC - $160,350 to RNC... Disney/Michael
Eisner/ABC - $208,052 to RNC) are surely going to tell you
every "scandal" that they want you to know.
They do not want you to remember Republican "scandals." It
makes it easier to demonize Democrats. They do not want you
to look around. They do not want you to question their version
of the news. There are only Democrat "scandals". You can recite
them as easily as you can recite the Pledge of Allegiance:
Whitewater. The Blue Dress. Chandra Levy. Chappaquiddick.
You know the drill.
As citizens of this once great country, we must demand the
truth from our media. We must demand the truth from our politicians.
We must demand our country back. Each of us, you and I, has
that power and the right to make these demands. Call your
local television station. Write your representatives. Our
voices must be heard. And we must hear the truth.
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