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Lou Pickney's Online Commentary

Follow the Money

Monday
October 2, 2006

Cell phone reception is a tricky thing where I live, but it has reached the boiling point for me with Sprint and my cell reception in my apartment. My Sprint phone was purchased specifically because it was known for having great reception capability, and it worked fine... until I moved to St. Petersburg. My apartment there was like the black hole of reception. Cell phones, radio, and even my Sirius receiver had trouble there. Of course, as it turned out, I only spent a few months there.

Here in Alabaster, my work phone (via Verizon) has functioned perfectly from my apartment. But my Sprint phone? Forget it. Two minutes tops is usually what I can expect before receiving the dreaded "call dropped" message. Consequently, my cell phone use has dropped significantly since I moved here. As if I wasn't isolated enough as it is... The most frustrating part is that it'll show four bars (optimal coverage) and then drop to zero without warning.

There's a hilarious phenomenon that I've observed in my recent trips up and down I-65. At Exit 6 in Elkton, TN, there are several strip clubs set up in close proximity to the interstate exit. It's striking to see it in an area obsessed with fighting all things salacious. Also interesting to me is that there are billboards leading up to the state line in Alabama promoting them... but then no billboards in Tennessee about it. I'm sure it has something to do with codes and rules and such, but there is great humor in seeing a billboard for the "Boobie Bungalo" just across the state line.

In case you missed it, the Senate snuck through a ban on using banks for internet gambling as a rider to the Safe Port Act. Do nothing about the immigration problem, but by god we're going to stop you from gambling! Senator Bill Frist justified this ridiculous move by saying that gambling is "a serious addiction." Other lawmakers have followed up with similar self-aggrandizing nonsense. For some, gambling may have a compulsive element, but so does ice cream and cigarettes and all sorts of other legal things. But this is an election year, and there are certain easily-influenced, non-free thinking types who are moved to action by this sort of heavy-handed governing.

Notice that Nevada was left alone in all of this. I'm glad, don't get me wrong, but how is it that gambling is okay there but not here? Why are so many elected officials obsessed in controlling so many things in our lives that have nothing to do with the day-to-day function of our government?

The door for all of this opened many years ago, when the federal government began slowly but surely getting into the business of regulating products deemed potentially harmful and/or dangerous. Not harmful or dangerous to others (e.g. lead paint), but of people to themselves. The Nanny State, Government Knows Best mentality has taken hold in disgusting fashion. George Orwell nailed it; he was just a few years off with his projection.

And the brain-washed masses, who were raised from infancy to believe all sorts of hoaxes, go right along with it, ignoring or not seeing the corruption and lobbying and money that influences the people who work to regulate more and more aspects of their life. Many people like things that are simple to understand, which is why so many ridiculous things (social control elements) thrive and continue in society.

The idiots of the world don't bother me in this regard, since they know no better. But when college educated, otherwise intelligent people buy into things that are (albeit beyond a cursory glance) clearly wrong, or blatantly corrupt, or that don't add up, and they simply accept it... well, it drives me crazy. Think for yourself.

If you actually believed that the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform bill changed anything, forget it. All that happened is that the soft-money donations went to the political parties (the RNC and the DNC), who in turn dole it out to candidates who most fit their respective strategies. It made things worse, since now a politician knows that he or she had better follow the party line or else face retribution in the form of campaign financing.

When In Doubt, Follow The Money

Why is the above line in bold? Because you need to remember it. Never forget it. If you get one thing from this website and that's it, make it that line. Money is an amazing motivator, to be sure. This goes far beyond politics, to every element of organized social control. It just happens that politics and money go together well. Always have, always will. Power draws money, which influences decisions.

When it comes to motivation, is it always about the money? No, of course not. Usually when it's not, whatever the motivations are will be obvious, from a guy chatting up a lady to a fan cheering for his favorite football team. But if you're not sure, or if things don't seem to add up, ask yourself: Where is the money trail going in this situation? Odds are that therein will rest the real answer.

So what is one to do? Question everything that seems suspicious. Speak out against Authoritarians who wish to control every aspect of your life. Vote for a Libertarian or third-party candidate, if for nothing else because the lesser of two evils is not an acceptable answer when there is a good third choice. And, most of all... when in doubt, follow the money.

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