Cynthia under attack by Ian Buckley

With Fox News leading the way, the story of Cynthia McKinney's scuffle with a Capitol cop continues to make the headlines in the United States. An absurdity, one would have thought, given the original incident.

The Capitol Hill policeman in question supposedly failed to recognise Congresswoman McKinney, grabbed hold of her, and she responded by allegedly hitting the cop with her cell phone. But we should remember that, given technical miniaturisation, a modern mobile phone is hardly a lethal weapon - and surely the cop was failing in his job by failing to recognise McKinney.

According to the media wolf pack, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein is reviewing the 'case', which means an arrest warrant could be issued for Congresswoman McKinney. Wainstein is best known for his pearl of wisdom - wait for it -: "Terrorists and spies use public libraries!"

The fuss is even more bizarre when one considers that numerous members of Congress are little more than the corrupt hirelings of various lobbies. They are incapable of standing up to the blandishments of Alaskan loggers, tobacco barons or pharmaceutical companies, let alone THE LOBBY that Cynthia has openly defied. Unlike them, Cynthia has never bowed the knee to the AIPAC.

While Cynthia McKinney has resisted, too many of the white men in suits have chosen wrong over right. And Cynthia has been consistently right about the attack on Iraq, about the many bizarre anomalies of the 9/11 attack and about increasing domestic deprivation.

If you are in a position to make a difference, and are still brave enough to offend the really powerful, then retribution will invariably follow, sooner or later. You can be 'Gallowayed' and flung into jail on flimsy charges as you enter Egypt. Or you can be 'Livingstoned', like London's Mayor, and threatened with loss of office over some harmless banter.

The former leader of Britain's Liberal party, Charles Kennedy, had his card marked when he opposed the attack on Iraq. He did this in a quite diffident and half-hearted way, but it was enough to be noted down against him. After a decent interval, he was swept away by a suspiciously coordinated and synchronised press storm. Incidentally, most ordinary people were bemused by the virulence the print media displayed towards this inoffensive and basically decent man.

Several years earlier, a UK government minister, David Mellor, dared to express some sympathy with the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. He was gone in a (blatantly setup) sex scandal a short while later. In America, the fate of Paul Findley, a man who should have been a real 'elder stateman', is well known : political oblivion.

I recall that Cynthia was courteous enough to send me a note of thanks after I e-mailed her a couple of Josephine Baker song links. Jo Baker once encountered controversy herself when she called Juan Peron's Argentina 'an enlightened democracy'.

Old time Argentina may or may not have been an 'enlightened democracy', but one thing is certain : modern America is neither enlightened nor even a true democracy. This episode proves that fact, yet again.