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Volunteers use cell phones to take photos of former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at a campaign call center in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 3.
Political contributions by text – seen as the ultimate grassroots fundraising mechanism – have been endorsed by the campaigns of President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney and approved by the Federal Election Commission. But wireless carriers, who would be responsible for overseeing the donations, are concerned that they could be held responsible for monitoring donor eligibility.
Here are some key excerpts from Reuters reporter Alina Selyukh’s story:
The wireless carriers who would oversee the donations-by-text service - including the four U.S. giants Sprint Nextel Corp, Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA - have yet to get on board with the plan.
...
One sticking point is that the carriers want to make sure they will not be held liable for determining donors' eligibility to contribute to a campaign, industry sources said.
That means ruling out that a donor is a corporation, foreign citizen or underaged American who is not allowed to contribute, or whether the donor has met various limits for donations to a campaign.
...
Text donations, capped at $10 per text and $50 a month, according to the FEC ruling, would allow givers to remain anonymous, although campaigns would have access to the donors' phone numbers. Donations by text messages also would be limited to a total of $200 per phone number to avoid triggering a federal requirement for disclosure of that donor's identity and address.
Donating to political campaigns by text would be similar to giving to charity: A donor would send a message to a text code and then confirm his or her intention and eligibility. But in this case, carriers and aggregators processing the payment would take a significant cut from each transaction, as they do with other non-charitable transactions, such as purchases of ring tones.
That cut appears to be part of the reason for tension that carriers are feeling over text donations to campaigns. The fee could reach 30 percent to 50 percent of each donation, according to FEC documents, putting wireless carriers in a potentially uncomfortable position of doing business with campaigns and their fundraising efforts.
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If they are going to be collecting up to 50% of each donation, something tells me they will find a way to get over their discomfort.
Wait a minute...
...so corporations are people and underaged Americans aren't? Makes me wonder how many "underaged corporations" are donating this year.
Well, I know of one.
....and the wireless carrier [Read: "CORPORATION"] getting "30 percent to 50 percent of each donation" when it is capped [...unlike corporate donors] is just another kick to the political rights of the poor and middle class. There is something wrong with a corporation being able to take 30%-50% of our political donation and make their own political donation with it.
I'm not a big fan of the donate by text message thing. I donated online and now get occasional text messages asking to donate over the phone. The place to opt out of these texts (quickly becoming nuisance texts) was not at all clear. Later, there was no mechanism to opt out of them either, on the original site. I removed my saved payment information--we'll see if that works. I would not be sad if the whole text donation process was squashed.
Liability? How about accountability. If Ahmadinejad, Karzai, Putin, Wen Jiabao, and Kim Jong start texting contributions to Obummer's campaign I want to know about it. Don't you?
Please buy me the election, text unmarked bills to the Cayman Islands care of tea baggerz lobby. AKA goddd is on our side.
A Mirage
A mirage is something that appears to be real at a distance. Often the vision is something the viewer wishes dearly to be true. The image brought to mind is a man desperately wandering in the desert, his lips parched from thirst, skin burnt from the sun. He looks ahead and sees the heat rising from the desert. Off in the distant, he sees the reflection from a pool of fresh water. He cries out water, water, I’m saved. Being filled with hope, he gathers his strength and starts running, slowly at first towards the water. As he approaches the mirage, the image of cool refreshing water fades to nothing. In horror, the man has learned the truth, that the water was never there. He has wasted the last reserves of energy, sits by the bank of the mirage and dies.
This country having moral and financial strength is a mirage. This week, August 5th , 2011 the financial rating of America was downgraded by Standard and Poor’s. The progressives are attacking the messenger, saying their calculations must be incorrect. The all knowing, all caring Progressives and “RINO’s” can never accept that we are going bankrupt. Our political leaders spend borrowed money as if it was just paper, as if our impending economic collapse was just a mirage. By 2017, the annual interest payment on the national debt will be ONE Trillion Dollars, or 40% of current federal tax receipts.
The Takers were kept fat and happy living off the efforts of others, borrowed money which the yet unborn will have to re pay. We allow millions of illegal Aliens to flow into our care. We then provide all their necessities of life - food, shelter, education, medical care, clothing and all you can eat taco bars. The illegal’s give US in return crime, drugs and a diminished standard of living. It does not matter if we cannot afford to pay the cost of entitlements, Obama can always borrow money. Obama is making history, February 2012 saw the largest budget deficit in one month. June 28th, 2012, the once Supreme Court upheld the legality of Obamacare. May God have mercy upon our country.
Reality is closing in as we approach the mirage of prosperity. We have reached the site of the mirage, but find nothing but debt and despair. I see the apparent wealth of America and most of its residents as a mirage. I live a personal financial mirage. It appears at a distance, that I am wealthy. My home is custom built and very lovely. It sits on five beautiful acres of green grass framed by majestic old oaks. If one looks closer and sees that I am only one missed mortgage payment from owning nothing. My life and apparent wealth is a mirage. Upon closer inspection, nothing is there. At the end, my life equals nothing but a few pounds of ash.
No one dared to look closely at Obama, his record and beliefs before the presidential election of 2008. Now it is too late, he was elected and the damage is done. At the end, Barry was just an empty progressive suit and fades to nothingness upon closer inspection.
Nothing Lasts Forever
Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Isaiah 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. Repent, the End is NEAR!