The Pot and the Kettle

It’s funny that the (p)resident and his crooked minions are always talking about the furtherance of our “values” and democracy being “on the march” around the world thanks, in large part, to their violent tendencies.

But democracy’s got to be in trouble when the debate is being led by the two biggest spooky-snoopy types in high government worldwide: Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and U.S. shadowmeister Vice Decadent Prick Cheney.

Putin, a former KGB agent, has been in power some six years now, thanks mostly to his penchant for jailing anybody he doesn’t like or, perhaps better said, anybody that doesn’t like him.

Cheney, of course, brings art to life with his own six-year portrayal of Dr. No; running in and out of secret bunkers, shooting his hunting buddies and blaming them, leading the charge for torture paid for with your tax dollars.

Now the pot is calling the kettle black.

You pick who is the kettle and who is the pot, because here at highwayscribery we practice democracy in most everything we do.

Anyway, some dissident people in Russia decided to have a conference on democracy in Russia over the weekend. The goal was to anticipate the arrival of the big G8 leaders to conference in the former Soviet Union.

Putin, who can shut down any media outlet he likes, had no problem sending his goons into the conference hall, in full view of foreign diplomats, press and the like, to pull some of these people out, by force, and disappear them to jail for a while.

That's what dictators do and they get away with it because anyone who thinks about speaking out has, well, seen what happens.

These dissidents are not like our dreadlocked, black bloc dissidents (bless the radical little hearts); they wear suits and count in their numbers a former Russian chess world champion.

Surely a sad and damning spectacle and it would have been nice if anyone of the cabal who govern us had the democratic credentials to step in and point a long, bony finger at the Russian dictator.

Instead, Cheney stood up; the guy who goes in for waterboarding (see Gitmo torture methods). He said this, that, and the other high-flown thing; the usual lip service the administration pays democracy abroad while crushing it at home.

Putin, of course, was having none of it and made a joke about Cheney’s hunting habits, which would be funny were it not so sad because when discussion of democracy is led by two thugs such as these, routine round-ups and detentions without rights, unauthorized tracking of phone calls, and secret monitoring of our financial transactions are just around the... hey wait a minute!