> netslackers <

-- Saturday, March 08, 2003 --

KC is the Republican Propagandist

That's right, I traded in my beliefs for a little national television air-time.

Well, not quite.

I went to the Ridge/Paige press conference with the intent of sitting in the audience. There were only a few students let in. I was chosen after a grueling selection process that consisted of me raisng my hand in class. Just four students were allowed to go as accredited journalists, the rest of us were told we'd be somewhere in the room. As it turned out, it didn't really matter if you were with the media or not because no one was allowed to ask questions. When the students met before the conference, they took eight "randomly" selected students from the group to stand behind the presentation. The reason I put "randomly" in quotes is to denote the fact that it clearly wasn't random. They picked out minorities to make the setting more diverse. I guess they decided they needed one white guy in there too so they through me into the background as well.

Just look at that picture Branden posted from the Washington Post. Clearly Ridge and Paige were trying to send a message: "The Bush Administration may be in favor of white people, but that doesn't mean we can't be in the same room as minorities." I say this fully aware that Paige is, despite popular belief, a minority himself. That's ok though. He's rich.

I especially like the mixture of students and various security agents. Since the press conference was held to unveil a new website aimed at schools to help make emergency planning easier, the message the mishmosh of people behind Ridge sends is clearly, "Please let us sit down now." Er, I mean, "School safety comes first."

At any rate, I did feel a little guilty afterwards. I had just been used to promote the Republican Party. Still, I didn't feel all that bad about missing the protest that went on outside while we were inside. I wasn't sure it was the appropriate time to be marching around. Ridge and Paige weren't there to talk about the war, they were there to talk about emergency planning. That said, I understand why people did protest. It was a great chance to be heard. I mean, the media was there, why not use it?

By the way, the name of the site is www.ed.gov (I'm not linking to it, it's garbage). Yes, "ED." If you're like me, you find that amusing. Afterall, one of the recent Republican presidential candidates is already famous for E.D.

In other news: Documents the Bush crew said linked Iraq to attempts at buying uranium in Africa were faked. It's obvious to me who forged the information, but I hope someone finds proof. There's more to the story and I'm hoping everyone in the US finds out about this, but something tells me they won't. I looked around at various media sites and didn't see a whole lot of stories relating to this news. It was on the front page of the Washington Post this morning and I applaud them for it. Afterall, this is the same paper that has decided it's pro-war. I'm glad they haven't stopped looking for the facts like certain other papers and television programs have.

> KC 5:35 PM [90372611]
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