Battleangel

Your (not my) tax dollars at work.

NYT via Slashdot - You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda - stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.

“It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site,” Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28.
Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal “is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement.” Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception.

The Onion of course was amused. Quite frankly, few people believe that anyone would confuse Onion satire with real news. I suspect there is something more ominous behind the cheerful facade of this apparent jack-in-office red-tapism. First it was the flag, now it’s the presidential seal. Either way it is a frivolous misuse of resources. If the status of the office of the president needs to be upheld, you could start with caring about your own citizenry as well as ceasing and desisting from slaughtering people abroad and subverting the authority of other sovereign nations.