Slashdot Mirror
Democratic Super PAC Buys Newtgingrich.com
netbuzz writes "The purchase of newtgingrich.com by a Democratic Super PAC — and the use of it to highlight Newt Gingrich's political weaknesses — is either amusing or a dirty trick, depending on your politics and your view of the Republican presidential hopeful. In either case, however, it is a cautionary tale about the importance of controlling your brand online, a task that is about to get more difficult for everyone thanks to the impending expansion of generic top-level domains."
Just tried the link http://newtgingrich.com/ and up comes freddiemac.com
Looks like it is on a rotating forwarder. The briefest of examinations suggests that it sends people to a URL from this list:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/gingrichs-campaign-still-looks-awful-lot-book-tour/45977/
http://www.greektravel.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/gingrich-senior-aides-resign/2011/06/09/AGN77VNH_blog.html
http://www.tiffany.com/?siteid=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaZFfQKWX54
http://www.freddiemac.com/
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/09/11/60353/gingrich-porn/
http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId=654836
I think it is great. I'd think it was funny if it happened to any politician, or any public figure really.
At a minimum it is funny because of all the people who will get their panties in a wad over it.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
I take issue with you saying that Sheila Jackson Lee is the dumbest of the dumb, that title clearly goes to Representative Hank Johnson (the Congressman who was concerned that deploying too many troops to Guam might cause the island to capsize).
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
At what point is anyone demanding you give your money to them? Your taxes go to paying for goods and services that are, for the most part, publicly available. The military doesn't stop Soviet tanks from rolling over your house but allow them to roll over mine because you're in a higher tax bracket. The CDC doesn't spend more researching cures for diseases that I have because I take fewer deductions.
All of this money goes to services for ALL of us, not just some of us. If you lost your job and became destitute, YOU TOO could apply for social assistance. If you go to the airport YOU TOO get to board an aircraft that travels down a runway and gets directed by air traffic controllers through safe airspace all paid for by me, you, and everyone else in this country.
Taxes aren't theft, they are part of our social contract. Hell, even posting on /. over the internet has been made possible by the tax dollars of our parents going to fund DARPA projects.
If you think this social contract amounts to stealing, then by all means, move somewhere else that is more suited to your personal desires.
Social security is self-funding, and will continue to be as long as the politicians keep their grubby hands off it. It's not part of the Federal budget, and including it as though it were is dishonest at best.
Medicare WAS mostly self-funding until the drug cartels got their way with an enormous unfunded giveaway to their bank accounts. They spent a few hundred million buying both political parties, and the ROI has been astounding. I don't think they ever expected to do that well in their wildest dreams.
The military could get slashed in half and we'd still be spending more than the next five countries combined. We could cut the Pentagram budget by 80 percent and still be the largest spender on war toys in the world. Most years if you graph the military budget and the US deficit the two amounts are amazingly close.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin