Congress caught making false entries in Wikipedia
January 30, 2006 5:26 PM PST

We already know, of course, that politicians live primarily for re-election and typically view the truth as an impediment to the higher purpose of unfettered self-aggrandizement.

Still, we can be excused for feeling mildly nauseated when fresh confirmation of this distasteful aspect of modern politicking surfaces.

The latest episode appeared last week in the form of a report that aides to Rep. Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat, deleted references to his broken term-limits pledge and massive campaign war chest on Wikipedia.

Then the trusty editors at Wikipedia got together and compiled a list of over 1,000 edits made by Internet addresses allocated to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The IP address subsequently was blocked and unblocked.

An extensive analysis reveals how juvenile official Washington secretly is, behind the mind-numbingly serious talk of public policy.

One edit listed White House press secretary Scott McClellan under the entry for "douche." Another said of Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma) that: "Coburn was voted the most annoying Senator by his peers in Congress. This was due to Senator Coburn being a huge douche-bag."

(Keep in mind these are the same holier-than-thou political climbers tasked with writing laws telling the rest of the country how to behave. Or else.)

This juvenalia is, of course, thoroughly bipartisan. Another change to the Iraq invasion entry shows that the anonymous congressional editor played up the dubious connections between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

It's true, of course, that the cretins who are behind the Wikipedia alterations can (and probably will) do this from their home computers in the future. But the difficulty in policing the political class shouldn't make us any less alarmed at the most recent evidence of its misdeeds.

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http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6033082.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressio ... ffer_Edits

If only these votes were real. It'd make the legislators a lot more closer to the people they represent.

hmmm....this gives me a few ideas.

there was an entry for one of the high schools near my house about them employing a librarian who eats babies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_habit

Kids at my school did this on urbandictionary, so there are all kinda of funny thing written about the school, certain teachers and administrators, and some cliques. It's childish but oh so funny.

In case it doesnt last, here it is, in all its glory.

you forgot to capitalize the "H" in Habit at the top though

Ahahaha

Whoever edited the Wiki to add that would get my vote.

I thought I was going to be outraged, but that's funny!

Nice one, Buggy.

Perhaps one could make a good argument for the history of the GH Compilation to be put in that place instead.

This is my favourite thread title so far this year.

Bloody politicians.