Freedom and Democracy

Maybe some of the many millions of readers who make their daily pilgrimage to this blog have been puzzled by President George W Bush’s Freem Moxy. Courtesy cartoonist Steve Bell, Freem Moxy is the way Bush's pronunciation, and his understanding, of Freedom and Democracy sound to English ears. Thus Freem Hain Turrs, or merely Hairs of Freem; and their opposite, Frensa Freem (the British New Labour party).
Had an excellent weekend with Nephew and wife from Seattle (see Injun Country below). They were stunned by and admiring of the depth and energy of the BBC’s coverage of the New Orleans catastrophe, human and geographical, of the reporters’ horror and anger at the suffering of those left behind, at the callous, arrogant and cowardly behaviour of the US authorities - “just as if they were in Iraq” - which would be intolerable in a Western European country. Then we went to Fox news, which showed only water and fires, no human beings at all. Then to UK CNN, which was introducing a statement by the Mayor of New Orleans - one we’d already heard on the BBC. The Mayor was angry, critical, and black. After about thirty seconds there was a cut back to the studio and a disturbed looking CNN anchor woman talking silently into her mike. Then she said “We’re having to leave that story early,” and went on to something less newsworthy. In the USA itself this kind of censorship is apparently more smoothly done behind the scenes. Our American relations (Seattle is a city that dissents from the Cheyney agenda) were ectstatic at these revelations of the way Freem Moxy works.
They were ashamed of Bush and all that he stands for. We had to keep saying no, no, don’t worry. We understand. We have Blair.