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Open Source Foes In Bed With Abramoff
Will Rodger writes, "Citizens Against Government Waste has said some highly critical things about open source software in the past. They've also pounced on supporters of the OpenDocument Format along the way. Alas, it seems their close ties to Jack Abramoff have drawn the (unfavorable) attention of Senate staff."
"What is most important, however, is that this matter is kept discreet," Abramoff wrote to a colleague at the Preston, Gates & Ellis law firm. "We do not want the opponents to think that we are trying to buy the taxpayer movement."
This comment is perhaps the most telling in that it shows that Abramoff *knew* what he was doing was wrong and that this would not even pass the sniff test.
The groups are Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became Secretary of the Interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, which was a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a religious group founded by Abramoff friend Rabbi Daniel Lapin.
This is the sort of incestuous behavior that the current Republican and NeoCon administration encourages. Of course the whako left is not immune from this sort of behavior either, but it seems to have reached a new high in the current political climate. So, regardless of your political leanings, please recognize that this is not the way to run a democratic (small "d") government and now is the time to clean house in next months elections. I'd love to see a complete overhaul of all sitting candidates in favor for new blood, Democrat *and* Republican who can hopefully work together in a more non-partisan way to actually do something rather than continuously position and campaign.
As an aside: How many days a week are our representatives and senators actually on the job in DC? What is their work week like? Anybody here know?
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
All of them?
Must be a big bed.
I've often wondered about this group. They remind me of something my college accounting prof. warned us about. (He's a CMA-Certified Management Accountant, outside the classroom.) Bean counters should never be put in charge of a business, long-term. They tend to focus too much on the money aspect rather than if the long-term is better served by a few extra expenses, e.g. getting a tetanus shot for $ rather than fighting the disease later for $$$$$.
CAGW has struck me as being too pennywise in the past. Not that they haven't had some good points, but their focus is often too narrow.
Looks like this kind of irony is something they could use, if they chose to, as a learning experience.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
If you're like me, you're probably wondering, "The who said what about what?"
Wikipedia to the rescue.
Read on past the Linux stuff. This is the same group that took money from Phillip Morris and then (can you imagine?) complained that the Department of Health and Human Services report on the dangers of smokeless tobacco was a waste of taxpayer money. Go figure.
This is a repost of a comment I have made previously, but I think the connection is important. Jack Abramoff took money to lobby on behalf of a company, eLottery, whose business model basically depends on software and business method patents in order to raise the cash they need to spend on lobbyists. Without the patents, there would at best be a trade association for such companies in a competitive market, probably more open in its dealings with government as well.
An article several months ago in the Washington Post described more about how Jack Abramoff took money to influence congressional proceedings. In this case, it was to scuttle a bill that would have prohibited state lotteries from going online. As with his work with Indian casinos, Abramoff pulled strings to get otherwise anti-gambling members of Congress to vote against a law prohibiting companies like eLottery from conducting lotteries over the Internet.
Oh, did I say "companies like"? Oops, no, just eLottery. They seem to have some patents "broadly covering Internet retailing of state lottery tickets". In other words, software patents, or actually business model patents (legalized monopolies) disguised as them. Of course, those patents let them raise capital from investors eager to profit from that legalized monopoly. Where did that capital go? Right into lobbyists' pockets.
Citizens Against Government Waste once ran a hit piece on me, prompted by the Church of Scientology. (What I don't know is whether the Scientologists actually paid them cash to do it, or merely supplied the material.) They ran this piece without ever attempting to contact me or Carnegie Mellon University to verify their facts, or ask for a comment. They also didn't have the guts to post the URL for the web site they were complaining about, which concerned the Sherman Austin free speech case. As far as I can tell,they're just a bunch of clowns pretending to guard the people's interests while cynically pursuing their own -- much like the rest of Washington.
Just because you don't agree with the JEWS (that's what you mean by neocon, right - you totally give yourself away there), it doesn't mean there is anything corrupt about it.
Where in the hell did you find that in the original post?
Toward Tradition was mentioned right alongside the Heritage Foundation, which got its start from the Coors family, hardly a bastion of pro-Jewish advocacy. The fact that some of the leading lights of the Neoconservative movement are Jews doesn't mean that Neoconservatism is a Jewish movement, and it doesn't mean that pointing out financial connections between religious groups (Jewish or otherwise) and Neocons makes you an anti-Semite.
I agree with you that interest groups are part and parcel of democratic governance, but I don't like the Neonconservative movement any more than the original poster does. Neocon policies are wrong not because of who advocates them, but because they are harmful to America and to the rest of the world.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
I love how their website is running Apache on Linux. What a "waste", by their standards anyways.
What did he do now that disgraced him? Seems to me that as soon as he put on the title "lobbyist"
he disgraced himself. Of course, I doubt that in Abramoff's case that his conduct wasn't disgraceful before his career as a lobbyist.
We'd do well to rid the body politic of these vermin.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Who's Abram?
Abramoff's other business with Dennis Hastert (R-IL) included a child slavery industry in Saipan, the Northern Marianas Islands US territory (near the Phillipines). Sex slavery and manufacturing slavery (child and adult). Hastert was simultaneously covering up for Mark Foley (R-FL) while Foley was molesting House pages. Interestingly, ABC News' Brian Ross broke both stories, but hasn't yet connected them.
Abramoff raised money to elect Republicans, Hastert controlled those House Republicans (and through their majority, the House). Together they made laws for the past 6+ years.
Now they're revealed to be in league to suppress open source. Are these Republicans really evil, or does it just require corrupt politicians to give evildoers the advantage they need to win? Is there a difference?
--
make install -not war
Until they are lobbying for something you agree about. The right to petition the government is a very essential right. Lobbyists, for good and ill, are a part of that right.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
Duh. Film at 11.
Nobody represents that chump.
Check out just a few links in the Abramoff Web of corruption. For extra points, google each player to see how deep in jail they are already.
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make install -not war
I love how people like you seem believe that only THIS batch of politicians
is bad and if we change for others, it will change.
Only people more annoying are the do-gooders who think that if we only got rid of Dubya earlier, the Iraq fiasco would have been different. It doesnt matter to these people that you could not tell a democrat from a republican when it came to Iraq during the last election.
Between the republicans and the democrats (remember that Clinton bombed more countries than Bush...so far), the difference is minuscule: the neocons with their long planned mess or the PC bullcrap from the dems which got us to bomb two countries who had huge problems with terrorism and allow the forming of two muslim strongholds in europe; Bosnia and Kosovo. Kosovo is a pit straight out of Mad Max by all recent accounts and Bosnia's terrorist cells were involved in 9/11, the madrid bombing as well as being the training ground for three recent Al Quaeda heads in S.Arabia.
Would you rather be fingered by Capt.Hook or raped by Jack the ripper?
Because that's what our choices are.
And the system which created this batch of politicians is primed not only replace this batch but most likely by a group which will most likely be even worse.
But hey, if whistling by the graveyard makes you feel better...good for you.
Maybe you could also try to click your heels and wish really, really hard and who knows...
I recently watched this Moyers special on pbs about Abramoff and DeLay. Definitely worth a viewing.
/ index.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/capitol
I wish I weren't out of mod points; that post made me laugh out loud.
... so I'm able to make this post. I don't have much time though. He'll be back and cracking the whip again real soon.
The original Neocons were all Jews who abandoned the New Left.They were(and are) hated by their former comrades.
NeoCon is one of those terms whose meaning is little known by the sheep who bandy it about parrotting their Stalinist slavemasters.
Yes, Neoconservatism originated with Jewish intellectuals who wanted to break with the Left. My point is that arguing against Neoconservative policies doesn't make you an anti-Semite. It is also worth noting that there are plenty of people who buy into Neoconservative arguments who are not Jewish. The Vulcans (Cheney, Rumsfeld, and arguably Rice) aren't Jewish. Ronald Reagan wasn't Jewish. Neither was Jeane Kirkpatrick. They both, however, put Neoconservative principles to use during the Reagan Era. Then there's that Dubya guy.
Crap. The Stalinist slavemasters are back. Gotta run. I'm totally wishing the Americans will win this Cold War, so I can be released from the Gulag. Bahhhhh!
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
'"What is most important, however, is that this matter is kept discreet," Abramoff wrote to a colleague at the Preston, Gates & Ellis law firm. "We do not want the opponents to think that we are trying to buy the taxpayer movement."'
Preston Gates & Ellis: 'The "Gates" in the firm's name is William H. Gates, Sr., father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.'
Abramoff's gang of Republicans took control of the entire elected government in 2001.
"The DOJ, now under the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, announced on September 6, 2001 that it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and would instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty."
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make install -not war
As they say, it corrupts absolutely. The Republicans have had the Senate, the House, the Executive branch and the Judiciary for nearly 6 years. That's too much for any party. Vote Democratic this time for a check on that power. Then push for all you're worth to get some real change - publically financed elections and some sort of vote ranking / instant runoff voting.
Publically financed elections would save lots of money. Politicians would have to convince the voters to vote for them by words and actions instead of their fund-raising prowess. They would no longer be indebted to big money interests, but to each voter equally. They would not have to spend half their lives chasing the big money and instead could spend it talking to and working for their constituents.
Vote ranking / instant runoff voting would allow us to vote for a third party without throwing away our votes. That would bring real choice to the system.
Public financing would probably have to come first, as both major parties will protect their duopoly as long as they need their party's support to finance their election. So far Maine and Arizona have public finance laws on the books and more are coming.
Prescient indeed.
Here is a different part of Microsoft's long term strategy -- buying a voice in the academia of IP law. Who knows, maybe they'll have their own Supreme Court Justice or two.
... about politics making strange bedfellows.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Abramoff's other business with Dennis Hastert (R-IL) included a child slavery industry in Saipan, the Northern Marianas Islands US territory (near the Phillipines). Sex slavery and manufacturing slavery (child and adult). Hastert was simultaneously covering up for Mark Foley (R-FL) while Foley was molesting House pages. Interestingly, ABC News' Brian Ross broke both stories, but hasn't yet connected them.
Do you have any sources on this other than The Daily Kos?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Check out just a few links in the Abramoff Web of corruption.
Two links to The Daily Kos in three articles, both by the same poster. Again, do you have any other sources, that people other than those on the far left side of the "Progressive Movement" might find credible?
Open source already has a reputation for being left-wing. But The Daily Kos has one (even among Democratic politicians) for being so far left wing that it's brewing the Kool-Aid for the entire Democratic party.
If we're to get Open-Source adopted by businessmen (who tend to be on the conservative side, at least when it comes to economics and business issues) and governmental IT bureaucrats (who tend to listen to powerful non-profit groups), we need to establish credibility with them.
Right here we have an opportunity to discredit one of the major voices against use of open source in government, by tying it to Microsoft through the Abramov lobbying scandal. But if we are heard quoting even ONE bogus item that decision-makers recognize as coming from what they perceive as a left-wing looney bin, it's all over.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Management that doesn't have any qualms about cheating their customers out of billions of dollars through monopolistic practices, FUD, and manipulation of IP laws won't have any qualms about bribing politicians either.
It's funny that you say that... I seem to remember people asking for just that when you made the connection in your speech.
Taxation without representation......
And the names even match! Bonus!
emt 377 emt 4
Let's be clear here. To me the issue is not that he was working with patent mongers, or war mongers, or closed source fundamentalists, or that he worked with the devil incarnate Rove. The issue is that we are allowed our democracy to be subverted by fear, greed, and ignorance, and all we can do it sit back and watch our little tv, and go to our little pro government rallies, and uncritically consume the propaganda that is fed to us by whatever political machine is our favorite. Would we be having this conversation if Abromoff were best friends with RMS?
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
This is the first time that I have read about the "jewish conspiracy angle" to the term "neo-con". What are you talking about? I'd never considered Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, or any of the rest of the cabal bent in the stereotypical, "Jew" direction.
And now you've got it.
Bruce Perens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff_Guam_in vestigation
A US federal prosecutor was investgating Abromoff in Guam, which is part of the same government administraion structure as Saipan. He was abruptly removed and replaced by a Republican, who then removed himself from the investigation because one of the targets was a relative! The case was kicked back to the FBI in Washington, which effectively ended the investigation.
Now this had to happen through some combination of White House and DOJ action. There are reports that Rove was directly involved.
This is completly explosive. If it is true that an ongoing criminal probe into corruption was stopped by political intervention a special prosecutor is the only solution. Former AG Ashcroft might end up being indicted, or be an unindicted conspirator. Or Rove could be facing a major criminal case. Tom Delay also had a hand in this. This kind of activity is at the heart of Watergate; someone breaking the law, and then people at the highest level covering it up.
(Delay is going to jail for other reasons. His wife had a no-show job, where she got around 40k per year for doing nothing, so either she goes to the slammer or he does. This is how they got some of the Enron guys, through their wives.)
you owe it to yourself to watch this documentary on the Abramoff scandal. It is absolutely amazing, infuriating, and disheartening.
(%i1) factor(777353);
(%o1) 777353
Silly articles like this are hard to refute when a suitably convoluted argument could be used against high school chemistry textbooks for supplying knowlege that could be used to make a bomb. It's unfortunate that growing numbers of people see those who are educated as enemies of their way of life.
[quote](Delay is going to jail for other reasons. His wife had a no-show job, where she got around 40k per year for doing nothing, so either she goes to the slammer or he does.[/quote]
Republican dick sucking is not a job? Then why do Falsenews employees get pay?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
OSS foes are in bed with Abramoff and OSS proponents are in bed with Stallman. Both are dangerous extremists/idealists. Surely there is somebody in the middle who would make a much better bedmate. But who would that be?
Everyone has mentioned how evil and scary and corrupt this all is. This comes along with the usual rants about the political system (some of which are soundly justified).
But there is one aspect that I do feel needs to be made evident. So many of these individuals and their cronies are all in jail, as has been pointed out. Now consider that. So many of these individuals and their cronies are all in jail.
This is just a demonstration of however nonsensical and corrupt things are, something is working. They are in jail, and according to some, apparently deeply in jail (sounds rather dirty to me). This is reason for good spirits and hope for the system. Yes, they have behaved despicably, but they aren't anymore.
In the end, the system has worked properly.
Jack had a girlfreind named Foley. They'd meet each other there, hold hands and think pure thoughts. But one day Foley didn't show up. He was sucking cock back stage at the armory in order to see some big rock group for free.
Doesn't that work? It totally works! Of course, the cat is completely out of the bag about the Republican party now. They're trying to do damage control but when you look at all those rich old men and you realize how much they really hate women and you start putting the pieces together, well only one thing makes sense in that light. And you start to realize that the elephant... well the elephant really should be pink.
And why are they so hard on homosexuality? Apart from them protesting too much, it's obvious they want to keep all those fine young men to themselves...
And why don't they want gay marriage? Well the straight guys will tell you that they wish marriage was illegal...
And one of them might be shooting his mouth off about "Oh well at least no one died with Foley like they did with Ted Kennedy back in the day" but you know at least the Democrats like to have sex with vaginas...
Deny it! Deny that the Republican Party is the biggest band of ass bandits this side of San Fransisco! I dare you to deny it!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Anyone could extrapolate a connection, it's just the smoking papers that are hard to come by.
Thanks for bringing that up the first time and pointing it out again now.
Speaking of Microsoft lobbying:
Quinn: Almost to a person, to anybody involved or who knows about
the ODF issue, they attributed the story to Microsoft, right, wrong
or otherwise. Senator Pacheco may be a bully but I do not believe he
is disingenious and would stoop to such a tactic. Senator Pacheco and
Secretary Galvin's office remain very heavily influenced by the
Microsoft money and its lobbyist machine, as witnessed by their
playbook and words, in my opinion.
Quinn: I believe that the ODF decision will stand. I believe MS
will continue to do anything and everything it can to stop it. And I
know my seat wasn't even empty and they (MS) took another shot at
the title, to no avail. This horse is out of the barn and I see no
way for it to go back in. Remember, all we are asking for was and is
for Microsoft to commit to open and the standards process; so
everyone looks really bad if the plug gets pulled at this juncture.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?st ory=20060119232859729
Mass ITD Resolved Accessibility Issues, Adjusts ODF Rollout Details
Now let's turn to Dana Blankenhorn's bizarre piece. First of all, Dana
(who should know better) picks up and repeats the open source confusion,
titling his piece Blind leading the way from open source.
I'm sure this is just a hiccup, but apparently the blind have given
Massachusetts' efforts to mandate open source the shaft. Because Open
Document Format (ODF) software (Open Office) does not yet work with
screen magnifiers, which make computer documents usable by those who
are legally blind, the state of Massachusetts is
This is an ancient piece of FUD (mandating open source) that has been
perpetrated by ODF opponents, and it is discouraging to see it continue
to appear in venues (such as ZDNet and TechWorld) that have credibility.
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/stan dardsblog/article.php?story=20060823131715736
B lind leading away from open source
I'm sure this is just a hiccup, but apparently the blind have given
Massachusetts' efforts to mandate open source the shaft.
Because Open Document Format (ODF) software (Open Office) does not yet
work with screen magnifiers, which make computer documents usable by
those who are legally blind, the state of Massachusetts is backing-away
from its commitment to mandate the format.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=7 55
Microsoft offers schools in Mass. free software
Corporate donations to school systems are not unusual, as companies often
try to gain name recognition by placing their brands with younger
consumers. State and school officials, though cognizant of companies'
attempts to use students for branding, said the donation is a boon
for financially strapped schools trying to update their technology.
Microsoft's software includes normal applications, such as word
processing and spreadsheets, as well as more advanced programs.
http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-60901 96.html?part=rss&tag=6090196&subj=news
Microsof t plays Massachusetts Senate card
OpenDocument not a done deal yet
Accusations are rife that the software giant Microsoft has not given up
on getting rid of the State of Massachusetts's plans to shift all its
documents to the open source
My Linux - (L)ove (I)s (N)ever (U)tterly eXPensive
How many times has msft pulled this stunt? Remember AdTI?
Some conservative think-tank starts screaming about msft being denied it's rights; and - whodathunkit - it's msft funding the entire thing!
Wasn't the letters-from-dead-people campaign another example of one these msft scams?
In the past CAGW was without question shilling for corporate interests ... the letters from dead people advocating against Microsoft's anti-trust prosecution were certainly that :-)
... on Linux.
However, the organization has been cleaned up, and has returned to its original mission, and if you look at some of their more recent work and argument, they are doing what their name implies, and as a hardcore liberal / libertarian European who finds even the US **Democratic** party too right wing for my taste, I find myself agreeing with a lot of what CAGW has to say nowadays.
Oh, and our company hosts their website
I won't believe it until I see the video on GooTube.
This sig donated to Pater. Long live
The number of astroturf fake nonprofits that exist to push industry positions
are large. Lots of for-money research, fake studies and PR garbage is funded by
corporate interests. Even public institutions (Universities, government departments)
shill for the corporations for funding or politics.
Wading through the garbage is
not too difficult, just trace the funding and the people in charge.
If the funding is not known, then err on the side of caution.
We clearly have a fundamental problem in our government with investigation interest conflicts. The Attorney General running the Justice Department must not be simply hireable and fireable (or forced to resign) just at the president's whim. One of the central failures of the system in Watergate revolved around the Saturday Night Massacre, when Nixon fired both the Special Prosecutor and Attorney General who were investigating him. The system obviously did fail when that broken governing system wasn't fixed after Watergate was demonstrated to be a criminally corrupt Republican conspiracy throughout the Executive Branch.
But even Watergate was dealt with by a "bipartisan government": Republican Executive, Democratic Congress. But what about Bush, controlling Congress too? There's none of the oversight Congress is required to exercise on the Executive. Congress has even sent two new Justices to the Supreme Court who subscribe to the Unitary Executive theory, which makes Congress optional, to join the two (Scalia and Thomas) who already work that way. Including giving the president privileges of unlimited wiretapping and torture.
The US system is still pretty strong. Next month, on TUE November 7, 2006, we get a chance to throw out these corrupt Republicans who've gamed the system yet again to produce and protect their global rackets. But Watergate, then Iran/Contra, now the massive Republican criminal conspiracies, all show we need basic reforms to our justice system, specifically where it investigates the government. Since we're not going to outlaw the criminal conspiracies we call "political parties", we need to put the Attorney General and Special Prosecutor out of reach of a corrupt president, a colluding Congress. Probably under Judicial Branch control, which should have oversight committees for confirmation and firing of Justice Department officials. I'd prefer every administration to come with an office collecting all evidence of crimes by them, for development into Special Prosecution, from Inauguration Day.
But we're so far from any of that, that I'll just welcome the basic Election Day chance to throw out these Republican criminals, and at least replace them with tolerable Democratic bums.
--
make install -not war
"Yeah? I'll check..."
"Hey everybody, I need a Jack Abramoff... we got a Jack Abramoff...? Anybody gonna give me a hand here?"
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
Possibly because they are dumb. But the same can be said for the majority of white-collar workers as well. Oh, and throw the majority of americans in general in there too. :)
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
The US has citizens that form "coalitions"? Where? The top 1% of the population has 95% of the wealth, and any "coalitions" that may exist will exist within that 1%. The Unions have long since been broken and spat out - State employees can't even strike in New York without asking permission from their employers! You can't even protest within a few miles of Congress! In the UK, you can protest where you damn well like, including outside the Houses of Parliament. (Well, you could. Blair changed that, although the new rules seem to be ignored.) America may have "freedom of speech", but you'll hear stuff at Speaker's Corner that would get the speaker shot or locked up for life in the Land of the Free. And what of the media? Air America is bankrupt and virtually all other media is owned by a handful of moguls and financed by a handful of advertising executives.
You mention websites. I think the Russian experience with their MP3 reseller (who isn't even selling US music) raises some questions on how free those are. Blue Frog certainly got shown the infinite ability to be heard over the Internet. And the setting up of a website offers no guarantees of it being seen, being seen by someone other than a drunk websurfer who mistyped the URL, or of there being any exchange of views even if your page is seen by someone significant. If you visit your MP in Britain, you KNOW you are getting heard by the person your message is intended for, and you WILL get an exchange of views. Maybe not views you like or agree with, but there WILL be an exchange, and you WILL have made some impact on the listener. The only impact I ever see being made in the US is when protesters get gassed and beaten by cops. (Sure, that happens in the UK as well, but frankly nowhere near as often.)
The US citizens have no voice. That is why they don't bother speaking up. Why should they bother? They don't matter. Homelessness in the US is something like 30 million people, excluding refugees (say from Katrina). What can these people do? They have no home address and most have no ID, so can't vote, can't get insurance and probably don't qualify for welfare, even though the bulk will be multi-generational Americans. Even if websites worked - and the last US preidential election proved they did not - how many homeless can afford their own server and split T1 line?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
My non-adjustible 5.75% mortage has gone up about that much ($1100->$1300+) in 5 years -- due to fairfax county, VA, property taxes! :)
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
I think I only participate in state and federal elections... Sorry :)
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
See, I don't actually believe that. I kind of think local politics is a convenient red herring to dangle in front of those few people with political energy, in order to distract them from the larger picture. Who is president DOES affect me more than who the dogcatcher is (not that the analogy really matters). The dog-catcher can't take $2,000 of my tax money and put it to killing people, for example. I don't have a dog. My only solace is that I come from the 1 blue county in a red state. Which in practice makes absolutely no difference at all, but it's nice that people are slightly less insane than everyone else here. Slightly.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com