And in other nations.. more scandals

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - As Brazil's worst political crisis in years rocks the government, Brazilians are poking fun at the protagonists in an alleged bribery scheme at the heart of the scandal.

Stuffing men's underwear with dollars -- a reference to one incident in the scandal -- has become a television contest, Carnival masks of those involved are selling fast and jokes about the alleged bribes-for-votes scheme are clogging the Internet.

On Tuesday, mask-maker Armando Valles, famous for Carnival masks of Osama bin Laden, George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, said he had sold all 1,500 of his new masks of congressman Roberto Jefferson -- who first accused the ruling Workers' Party of paying bribes for support in Congress.

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President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has denied knowledge of any bribes, has so far managed to deflect the scandal and his popularity has even edged up slightly.

But he has not managed to avoid humorous punches. In an animated sequence on the popular Web Site www.charges.com.br, Lula wears a T-shirt saying "I didn't know" as he speaks to his son, whose company has also found itself in the middle of the scandal.


http://reuters.iwon.com/article/20050720/2005-07-20T130424Z_01_N19380511_RTRIDST_0_ODD-SCANDAL-FUN-DC.html