Where is the outrage?

Sadly, the media and others have passed on so many cases that this kind of shit is tolerated as a matter of procedure.

Over the objections of many of its own employees, the Social Security Administration is gearing up for a major effort to publicize the financial problems of Social Security and to convince the public that private accounts are needed as part of any solution.

This is quite obviously illegal use of taxpayer dollars for political gain… it pisses me off even more that they’re using the program itself to essentially advocate for its own destruction. But like I said, it is tolerated as a matter of course; the article even lists a few instances:

The Bush administration ran afoul of a ban on "covert propaganda" when it used tax money to promote the new Medicare drug benefit and to publicize the dangers of drug abuse by young people. The administration acknowledged paying a conservative commentator, Armstrong Williams, to promote its No Child Left Behind education policy.

There are other cases besides these as well. But here is the key sentence:

But on Social Security, unlike those issues, the government has not concealed its role.

This works on two levels: not only is it just another case to blitz your sense of ethics, but in doing it out in the open, it is played like there is nothing really wrong with it… sort of like avoiding the whole “cover-up is worse than the crime” scenario. Note the hands-off he-said she-said reporting.

There is no shame… neither in this administration, nor in the neutered media.

Update: Now there is this:

"The Social Security Administration is an independent organization that has a duty to fulfill the obligations of making sure that checks go out, and the solvency of the actual system itself," said the official, Dan Bartlett, counselor to President Bush. "There's no expectation that career employees would be asked to advocate on behalf of any specific prescription for Social Security. But one thing they can do, and what anybody can do, is to look at the numbers, and they're undeniable."

I actually agree with him... the numbers are undeniable: the Bush Administration is full of shit on the social security "crisis."