[parwez]

Hey Kimball,

In defense of the former communist countries.
when in one of the Baltic countries (Estonia, Lithinua, Lativia) as opposed to balkland - around Former Yugoslovia)
had only one candidate standing in the elections (no surprises there) and the majority of the electrorate crossed out the name or indicated they wanted to vote against him. The candidate was not elected.

In OUR liberal democracies, (I live in the UK) we cannot vote against a candidate and if a candidate stands unopposed, (s)he get automatically elected.

and you are naive if you think people only disappear outside liberal democracies and our governments are there to serve the public interest whilst those over there only serve the ruling party.

Our governments have better spin-doctors, are more subtle at manipulating facts and we are less critical of them, then people in the countries ('where people disapear').

Our education system is based on the system that came into force during WW2, when the pirority was a loyal, obident workforce.

In the words of Pink Floyd, we don't need no mind control, ...hey teacher leave that kid alone.

It's not the people in the US or UK that are horrible, it's the governments. The people are okay, those who see through the lies are simply labled by the state as trouble makers and are linked with trouble makers.

If a capitalist factory owner was to pollute a river with his waste, it would be unreasonable to treat all factory owners as if this was their intention.

Yet when a single protestor goes beyond the limit, of what is acceptable, all the treated by the states as if they intention was the same. This was the message is lost and action can be delayed. The big companies backing BUSH, know they will loss the battle eventually when it becomes blantly obvious to all the damage they are causing, but they want to delay that date as much as possible, so they can make a quick buck, or position themselves better in the market place for the next round