A Well-Managed Freedom

Reported in The Washington Post:

MOSCOW, Sept. 13 -- President Vladimir Putin announced plans Monday for a "radically restructured" political system that would bolster his power by ending the popular election of governors and independent lawmakers, moves he portrayed as a response to this month's deadly seizure of a Russian school.

Under his plan, Putin would appoint all governors to create a "single chain of command" and allow Russians to vote only for political parties rather than specific candidates in parliamentary elections. ... The newest moves take a vision he calls "managed democracy" to a new level.

Next to Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin is President Bush's biggest ally in the War on Terror.

To make the world safe.

For managed democracy.

The US Justice Department is also making the world safe for managed democracy. The Memory Hole has unearthed a disturbing case of black-marker overdosing at the DOJ. The justice department is allowed to redact (cover up with black marker) court rulings in ACLU cases, among others. DOJ recently blacked out the following words from United States v. US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 407 US 297, 314 (1972). It's a bit difficult figure out what part of a 1972 Supreme Court decision could need to be classified, but let's give Aschroft the benefit of the doubt here.

No, let's not. Here's what the DOJ blacked out:

The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect "domestic security." Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent.

Don't mind the Department of Justice. They're just managing our democracy.

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