Apr. 16, 2005 - 18:10 MDT

THAT'S FAIR ?

There's a wheel way up in the middle of the air, or is it there is a wheel in a wheel way up in the middle of the air ? There is a spiritual that has wording in it similar to that. Often suggests to me what our various administrations, through the years I have been aware, have been doing. Making attractive doo-hickey wheels in wheels to occupy our minds while they do things they don't want us to perceive.

Buried way in the middle of Saturday's Rocky Mountain News is an article by the Associated Press. In full:

Report raps PR pact by Bush team

"WASHINGTON -- "Senior Bush administration officials showed poor judgment and wasted money in hiring conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote the president's agenda even though they violated no laws or ethics rules, an internal inquiry concluded."

"The report released Friday also revealed that two Education department officials had warned the White House last summer of concerns about the Williams contract."

"David Dunn, then-special assistant to the president, agreed with the concerns, yet neither the White House nor the department halted the contract until it was disclosed by the news media in January."

"The department paid $240,000 to Williams, a commentator with newspaper, television and radio audiences, to promote President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law."

"Williams who is black, was hired to conduct "minority outreach" about Buish's law by producing ads with then-Education Secretary Rod Paige."

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Opinions of mine, of course, that's why my wonders are here.

Wonder who conducted the internal inquiry ? Perhaps there should be a hard and fast law that prohibits using taxpayers money to propagandize our citizens. Ethics rules ? Another place to write some new rules, or correctly interpret those already written.

Of course with our present administration, money is no object, the pres can just pay out of his own pocket those he wishes to grind his axes for him.

I do wish the article had been longer as I would like to know about, "David Dunn . then-special assistant to the president," the wording indcates to me that he is not assisting the pres now. I'd like to hear more about that.

Then the fact that it was an ongoing contract, that "neither the White House or the department halted the contract until it was disclosed by the news media in January," indicates that if the contract had not come to light it would have continued on. My snarky mind thinks perhaps he would have been given different items to put through the propaganda mill for the pres.

So, $240,000 of taxpayers money was paid out to a media person to promote a pet project that seems to have essentially died on the vine and did in no way improve the condition of the children in danger of being left behind, if I am to believe what I read in the papers.

Seems to me that the integrity of Williams was bought and his validity as a commentator destroyed. But to my mind it was taxpayers money stolen from the taxpayers and the internal investigators found no wrong ? And they indicate THAT'S FAIR ? . . . . . . . . . .

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