Auction House Democracy

You've probably heard the name, now meet the Koch Brothers, as introduced by Jane Mayer on NPR's Fresh Air (Video courtesy of Crooks and Liars):



OK, so a couple of rightwing nutjobs are giving money to the GOP -- who else would these days? There are two possible intentions in giving a political donation and it always pays to keep this in mind. People will give to candidates or parties because they agree with them, which only makes sense. If candidate Bob believes what you believe, you're going to want him to win. So you're going to do what you can to help him.

The other intention is as a legal bribe. If candidate Bob is sort of squishy on your issues, then maybe a big campaign contribution will give him an incentive to be a little more solidly on your side. Where the first intention is the political system as it was meant to operate, the second is corruption -- and there's a very fine line between the two. Unfortunately, both are legal. Which only makes sense, since it would be nearly impossible to distinguish between the two with any level of certainty.

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From Egypt, Revolution Porn and Fear Porn

I've finally dug out after being buried in snow for a couple of days. If a blizzard is a disaster, it's a beautiful disaster. It's almost seems the entire world is white and clean looking, like a heavily frosted wedding cake.

Unfortunately, the whole world is not clean and beautiful. Cable networks, newspapers, and the internet have dropped ugliness in my lap, in the form of violence in Egypt. It may be overstating things quite a bit, but it looks a lot like Hosni Mubarak attempted a stealth Tienanmen Square massacre and failed on both the stealth and massacre aspects. By now, there is no doubt that the "pro-Mubarak protesters" on camel- and horseback are Egyptian police (click the image above for a look at some of their police IDs) and Mubarak's hamhanded attempt to save his position may only have made matters worse for him. Still, to go back to Tienanmen, if China proves anything, it proves that an authoritarian regime can pull some pretty awful stuff and still remain a member in good standing of the world community.

It's tempting to engage in revolution pornography, posting inspiring images of the past few days. There's certainly been enough great photojournalism and much of it has been breathtaking. And, while calls for freedom stir some American consciences, other see only reason for fear.

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