Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird proposed new anti-corruption law, though for all it's good intentions, is for naught. Human nature being what it is for thousands of years, bribery can easily compete with the worlds oldest profession as a long standing vice.
Bribery and Foreign Countries go hand in hand, and have for hundreds, if not thousands of years, This is their culture. If you want anything done, money speaks volumes. Western countries on the other hand find it distasteful, do it more secretively or call it by another name e.g. Underhandedness, self entitlement to the public trough, the cost of doing business, sexual favours, politicking, favouritism, scratch my back, and I will scratch yours, the ends justify the means, etc. Money does not necessarily have to change hands when it comes to bribery, when the end results in the other parties benefits in an unfair or illegal advantage.
Thesaurus defines Corruption as:
Part of Speech: noun Definition: dishonesty Synonyms: breach of trust, bribery, bribing, crime, crookedness, demoralization, exploitation, extortion, fiddling, fraud, fraudulency, graft, jobbery, malfeasance, misrepresentation, nepotism, on the take, payoff, payola, profiteering, racket, shadiness, shady deal, shuffle, skimming, squeeze*, unscrupulousness, venality Antonyms: decency, honesty, honor, truthfulness, wholesomeness
* = informal/non-formal usage
Main Entry: corruptionPart of Speech: noun Definition: adulteration Synonyms: debasement, decay, defilement, distortion, doctoring, falsification, foulness, infection, noxiousness, pollution, putrefaction, putrescence, rot, rottenness Antonyms: cleanliness, cleanness, pureness, purification, purity, sterility
Main Entry: abusePart of Speech: noun Definition: wrong use Synonyms: corruption, crime, debasement, delinquency, desecration, exploitation, fault, injustice, misapplication, misconduct, misdeed, mishandling, mismanage, misuse, offense, perversion, prostitution, sin, wrong, wrongdoing Notes: abuse carries with it some sense of harm; misuse refers to an incorrect use that may not lead to harm to misuse is to use something wrongly, to abuse is to misuse something so badly that you damage it
Western Politicians for instance, Hmmm, oh, I don't know, let's say Senators, perhaps the moist and garrulous Maritime Senator of no fixed address according to the PEI voters list, giving this Senator a lucrative $132, 000.00 a year Senate position in exchange for little work to moisten a leather high back Senate chair to vote in favour on the gift givers passing of bills, or a Surrey/Cloverdale East Indian backbencher MP offered a choice portfolio or plum position to cross the floor of the house to the liberals, in exchange for all the ethnic East Indian vote, SNC Lavelin bribing Libya, or ex Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin sitting down to tea with Libyan Dictator Gaddafi on behalf of Canadian businesses are just three examples. Closer to home, say ex US President Bill Clinton offering Monica Lewinsky a lucrative cigar inspectors position in the Oval office can be construed as bribery.
Yet, we do not call this a bribe, but politics or rough trade.
On even a smaller scale, I am guilty of bribery, when my cat races around the house and won't shut the $(&@#$ up at 3am, I give her food, sometimes it works, sometimes not. For you see my Cat, once sated, will still race around the house in the dark like a miniature Batman, caterwauling.
Clearly my Cat doesn't understand the concept of reciprocation in bribery, or maybe she does?
The difference between my cat versus politicians and business alike is, I can kick my Cat out of the house........unlike politicians, senators and business once caught, is another story!
Corruption, according to the Thesaurus, seems to pay, for some.
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