2008-12-11

The corruption fetish

We can read on the USAID web site (which is “From the American people”) that:
In broad terms, USAID focuses on corruption as the misuse of public office for private gain. It encompasses abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling, and fraud. Corruption arises in both political and bureaucratic offices and can be petty or grand, organized or unorganized. Though corruption often facilitates criminal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and prostitution, it is not restricted to these activities.

2008-12-06

Political parties kill themselves

After the elections of November 2006, Karl Rove, Republican Party strategist, left the Bush administration – for many reasons including the losses in November (“to spend more time with my family” was given as the real reason). Rove was a proponent of the “50 percent plus one” school of political advantage, which claimed that all that was important was power.