Apparently gone are the days when my conservative Republican friends (back when I had some) could email me from the U.S. and yell at me for living in a country that manipulated public opinion. They used to get outraged when I'd tell them about how weather reports were modified with respect to extreme temperatures so that the SOEs did not have to give people time off. They used to get apoplectic when news of a mining disaster would filter out to Hong Kong but not make it onto the pages of People's Daily.

Ah, the good old days. How I miss 'em.

And then we have this (h/t Americablog):

NASA Covered Up and Tried to Destroy "Air Safety" Study Because If Travelers Knew How Unsafe It Was Up There They'd Be Upset

Seriously, that was NASA's logic. This is part of the larger Republican war on science. They've taken every agency and twisted its goal from one of public safety, public health, public trust and made it a vehicle for their own special interests, be it the religious right or corporate America. Our government no longer represents us, it only represents a very small and very powerful and very fringe element of the Republican party.

Follow the Americablog link above or go here for the entire AP story – I am not making this up.

I think the U.S. government is really trying to get competitive in the thought police department. Now that they have adopted Soviet-style interrogation techniques, they can move on to North Korean methods for keeping the masses happy.