On 25 Oct 2002, Lyvim Xaphir wrote: > IMO the simplistic statement "both republicans and democrats are seeking > to grab more power" reveals "a poor understanding of how politics > currently works in this country". The princess of Elaboration is on my > side, not yours. I have yet to see a coherent denial of the facts I > have presented in this thread concerning the fate and threat to the > Linux operating system and free software in general by Democratic > politicians. Probably because it would be patently stupid to do so and > only other "fuzzy" responses are workable.
This is an interesting thread. Enough so that I took a look at soft money contributions from some of the larger players. From 1/1/2001 to 12/31/2001, Walt Disney (not exactly on Linux' side) gave US$105,000 to the Democrats. They gave $196,700 to Republicans. The RIAA gave $105,00 to Democrats and $110,530 to Republicans. By and large, Democrats were greased more by the entertainment industry than Republicans. Something on the order of 2/1. I.e., of every dollar donated to Republicans, two were donated to Democrats. Ahh, but look at donations from Microsoft from January 1 to Dec 31 of 2001: Microsoft gave $665,970 to Republicans and $295,000 to Democrats. Looking even further, I see that Microsoft *really* likes Republicans. Reading closer, we see that, almost without exception, the elected officials vote exactly as their top contributors desire. This goes for both Republicans and Democrats. We also see that our elected officials are eager to propose legislation that meets the economic interests of their contributors, and this is also with few exceptions. A quick search shows that machine identification, ostensibly to allow secure digital content, is being backed by Microsoft through many Republicans and several Democrats. Content security is backed mainly through the entertainment industry through Democrats. But Microsoft could use this for software validation to prevent Linux from running on white-box PCs. And now Microsoft and Disney have partnered. Hmmm... One takes care of the Democrats, one takes care of the Republicans. Mo' money for MS and Disney. If you're reading this and think that I have some Rebulican or Democratic bias then a point is proven. I'm frankly sick of how easily money can buy any of them. Source: www.commoncause.org, cnn.com
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