rootstrikers wikileaks connection

The Motion Picture Association of America, through its President, former Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), astonished us all last week. Twice. The first time was in an interview with Fox News about the successful effort of millions to stop Congress from passing the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA). As Dodd said: Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake. Then, when the Internet erupted in outrage at this obvious quid-pro-quo threat, the MPAA astonished us again. What's the big deal, the lobbyist organization asked. "Dodd was merely making the obvious point that people support politicians whose views coincide with their own." By which they mean "people $upport politician$ who$e view$ coincide with their own." Now of course, any one close to DC recognizes that games like this go on all the time. As former super lobbyist (and now, ex con) Jack Abramoff explains in his fantastic book, Capitol Punishment, the games these lobbyists play are really nothing but bribes. Sure, it's legal ... Sure, everyone in Washington does it. Sure, it's the way the system works. It's one of Washington's dirty little secrets — but it's bribery just the same. Yet usually, the lobbyists at least have the decency to hide this form of legalized bribery. Usually, they are not so crass. (Or inept, for what politician can now flip his vote back to the MPAA's side?) Lots of people are now jumping on Dodd, and demanding a response. A petition at the White House's "We, The People" site, for example, calls on the the government to investigate the MPAA for "bribery." And Free Press is sponsoring a petition calling on the top recipients of MPAA money to return the cash. "Congress," the petition says, "must make it clear to the world that it won't be bullied into supporting censorship." But Rootstrikers recognize that the bullying of Congress won't stop just because one lobbyist gets punished. So long as the tiniest slice of America funds the bulk of congressional campaigns — .26% give more than $200 to a congressional campaign, .05% max out to any candidate, and .01% (that's 1 out of 10,000) give more than $10,000 in an election cycle — Congress will be bullied. And that doesn't even begin to address the new bullies on the block — aka, the SuperPACs. We need something more than tiny solutions to massive problems. The bullying won't end until elections are publicly funded. And more of us — including the activist organizations that we all support — must begin to say this, loudly and clearly. So here's what we need you to do: If, as Thoreau wrote, "there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root," then help us find our 307,000 American "rootstrikers." We need you to share this email with your friends, and recruit them to join us here. You know we're a low burden org. We try to keep costs low, and ask for money really infrequently. But we need the 300 thousand! Help us get to that goal? And thank you for everything you're doing (or all that you will do!) (from lawrence lessig of rootstrikers.org) http://rootstrikers.org/

i really love lawrence lessig.
i disagree with him on james joyce's daughter lucia joyce. more later.  that's kind of an obscure issue about a genius who called his daughter crazy whilst writing crazy books himself.  pretty sexist.
anyway
i wish he were here in london to support wikileaks founder julian assange.
lessig that is, but james joyce would be nice too.
last time lessig wrote that he couldn't afford to come. which was an almost indirect statement of support. so then, that's nice he's fighting the MPAA who were after TPB and via the same persecution channels wikileaks gets drug under the lorry. so it's nice. one big family. of humans. wikileaks supporters. everywhere. at harvard. in DC.
fighting bribery.
protecting the internet.