Yesterday Dailykos diarist, 'the girl', hit the recommended diary list with her post of the powerful impact one person may produce in the simple act of shining bright light into the dark space created by deception.

The inherent power over an adversary that is achieved by lying is particularly odious in application to public affairs.  Large sums of money are invested by private concerns to intentionally distort public understanding of matters of great importance, like the current policy debates on health care or climate change, for example. 

Big Tobacco and Big Oil have spent enough money in recent decades to create and sustain whole industries designed for the single purpose of misleading citizens and the decisions of our policy-makers in public affairs.

Because fairness is not part of the organization charter, corporate concerns have only the bottomline at stake which ultimately requires directors --NOT to equitable policy debates but-- to maximize shareholder value.  And, so, we documented the secret memo series through which Big Tobacco bought the GOP half of American party politics to deceptively achieve protection from legal liability beginning in 1994.

So, the big money behind the teabaggers has been trained on the biggest lies for decades already.

When 'the girl' found them also infringing the Energizer Bunny trademark (the prohibited, unfair use of a registered corporate icon) with its use in attacks on public health care policy plans, her notification of the trademark owners at Eveready was enough to move them to consider legal action. 

Hat-tip to JSixis of Delphi Forums for point out the piece by Stephen C. Webster of Rawstory for his piece Court document: Republican election judge bought votes with OxyContin. It's kinda funny that while the GOP and their rabid rabble scream "voter fraud!" and point at Acorn, they're marvelously silent on stories like this one.

Quoting from a quote excerpted in the Raw Story piece from Bill Estep of the Kentucky Herald-Leader:

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According to court documents, some worked at polling places, making sure people voted for candidates they were supposed to and then giving them stickers or tickets, which the voters then showed at other locations to get cash from others involved in the conspiracy.

The indictment said Bishop, a Republican election officer in the Manchester precinct in 2002 and 2004, hosted meetings at his house where candidates for office pooled money to use in buying votes.

He also bought votes at the polling place, giving voters a mark or ticket so they could get paid later, the indictment says.

Bishop and [elections official William] Stivers also used OxyContin to buy votes at the direction of [School Superintendent Douglas] Adams in 2002, former Manchester assistant police Chief Todd Roberts told investigators, according to another court document.
__________

Sounds like one heckuva job, and one helluva operation. No wonder they're paranoid.

Crossposted from DailyKos and to BelowBoston.

There have been plenty of signs along the way -- bright, gaudy, glaring signs to some of us, which only now stand out to others in hindsight. Joe Lieberman is a former Democratic leader, now compromised by his claims of faux bi-partisanship and blatant support of Republican candidates, policies and talking points.

Scott In NJ's diary Harry Reid can't strip Lieberman of his committee assignments and Steve Singiser's diary Senator Reid: Show Me Something. Expel Lieberman Tomorrow. both wrangle with the issue. A brief blurb I put up over on ePluribus Media 2.0 provides a short collection of some of the signs, portents and their meanings.

What does it all mean? Has this all been avoidable, or are we as a nation perpetually stuck watching a Congressional rendition of kabuki theatre in a Potempkin village,¹ hoping in vain for our broken system of government to fix itself and justify our efforts to get our nation back to some semblance of a true Democracy?