http://freekeene.com/…

From the NH Free Press‘ Kat Kanning:

Russell Kanning’s vote for the November 2008 elections is up for sale! He’s doing this to demonstrate what’s really going on in the elections. Politicians promise you all sorts of goodies in order to buy your vote: new welfare programs, new roads, new wars, the list goes on and on. Russell just wants to lay it all on the table and deal honestly, so you can buy his vote directly. He’s delegated the actual task of auctioning off his vote to me. He’ll be voting in the City of Keene, NH. Bidders from the Keene area have the added incentive that he can vote for city issues for you, in addition to the presidential and congressional rat-races. I would be auctioning off my vote too, but when city officials heard about my auction plans, they removed me from the voter rolls in their fiefdom. About a year ago, we both asked the City of Keene to take us off their voter rolls, which they refused to do in Russell’s case.

Place your bid!

FK EDITOR’s UPDATE 8/24 EARLY AM: Ebay has pulled the auction. It’s sad how obedient businesses are to the state.

IIRC FTL had covered the recent story of the guy who had tried to sell his vote on eBay and was being charged with a felony so should have known this would happen. I’ve not looked to see it’s also illegal by New Hampshire law but I suspect it is and the punishment would not be welcome. I’ve considered doing this given my relative indifference to the candidates likely to be on the New Jersey ballot come November. There are two concerns. First is obvious, being fined and/or jail time. Second is losing blog of bile if I personally hosted the auction. No matter if you are share hosting, colocating or have an actual T1 coming into your home those companies which provide the service will have no problem terminating your account at the will of the government. I believe those who were charged with selling their vote in 2004 used Craig’s list. I don’t recall if Craig’s list did or would now take down the posts.

We will see if the government busybodies react to this act.

http://ap.google.com/…

A college student claimed it was all a joke when he put his vote in this fall’s presidential election up for sale on the Web auction site eBay. But prosecutors didn’t see the humor.

University of Minnesota student Max P. Sanders, 19, was charged with a felony Thursday in Hennepin County District Court after allegedly asking for a minimum of $10 in exchange for voting for the bidder’s preferred candidate.

“Good luck!” Sanders wrote under the eBay handle zepdrummer612. “You’re (sic) country depends on You!”

Sanders was charged with one count of bribery, treating and soliciting under an 1893 state law that makes it a crime to offer to buy or sell a vote.

According to a criminal complaint, the Minnesota secretary of state’s office learned about the offering on the Web site and told prosecutors. Investigators sent a subpoena to eBay and got information that led to Sanders.

The student told investigators he made the eBay posting, adding, “That was a joke. It’s no longer listed,” according to the complaint.

“We take it very seriously. Fundamentally, we believe it is wrong to sell your vote,” said John Aiken, a spokesman for the office. “There are people that have died for this country for our right to vote, and to take something that lightly, to say, ‘I can be bought.’

“It’s a real shame,” he said. “I can imagine the conversations being held in American Legion Clubs and VFWs about whether this is a joke or not.”

The scarcely used law had its heyday in the 1920s, when many people sold their votes in exchange for liquor, Assistant County Attorney Pat Diamond said.

“There are two things going on here in terms of why it’s a crime,” he said. “One is the notion that elections should be a contest of ideas and not of pocketbooks — at least not in the sense of straight-out ‘I can buy your vote.’ The second notion is that everybody gets one vote, and you don’t get to buy another one.”

Sanders and his attorney, Steven Levine, declined to comment Thursday. The charge carries up to five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

As for the offer on eBay? It got no bids.

It’s OK to vote one way or another for free but the second it’s in exchange for something we’re going to have to pull out the guns to keep you from soiling the wonderful institution of mob rules democracy.

http://news.yahoo.com/…

John McCain’s model for ginning up the economy isn’t Keynesian or Milton Friedmanite. It’s EBay Inc.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee regularly asserts that 1.3 million people worldwide “make a living off EBay.” He holds up the figure as evidence the world’s largest Internet auctioneer is a model for job and economic growth.

McCain, seeking to address voter anxiety about the economy, uses EBay to signal that he is “fundamentally optimistic about the capacity of the U.S. economy to innovate, for that innovation to give new opportunities for jobs,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, the candidate’s senior economic adviser. “We shouldn’t be obsessed with looking backwards all the time, and saying, `Gee, where did those jobs go?”’

This affection for EBay as an engine for job creation, however, confounds economists such as Betsey Stevenson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.

“In terms of jobs, there’s no net increase in GDP that comes from trading stuff that’s already made,” said Stevenson, author of a study on the Internet and employment levels. “New people selling stuff out of their closet on EBay isn’t growing the economy.”

“It’s an example of good old-fashioned U.S. ingenuity, but selling used products is a limited business model,” said Ethan Harris, the chief economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York. San Jose, California-based EBay transformed what was an “incredibly inefficient market for junk and turned it into a very efficient market for junk.”

McCain may not accept such criticism. He has shown increasing disdain for any economist who questions his policy prescriptions. Earlier this month, he lashed out at critics of his proposal for a summer gas-tax holiday.

“You know the economists?” McCain said June 12 at Federal Hall, near the New York Stock Exchange. “They’re the same ones that didn’t predict this housing crisis we’re in. They’re the same ones that didn’t predict the dot-com meltdown. They’re the same ones that didn’t predict the inflation that’s staring us in the face today.”

You know the economists? The ones that claimed we aren’t in a recession.

Oh wait!!! You aren’t an economist.

You just surround yourself with them. The ones who are fully versed in kindergarten level economic theory. Not to insult kindergartners.

Not that you aren’t well read. (skip to 2min 30 seconds in)

John, you do realize that there were economists who predicted the housing crisis and the dot-com meltdown and the inflation “that’s staring us in the face today.” They come from the Austrian school of economics and you had one of them on stage with you. Ron Paul is his name and if you’d like to start looking into this school of thought I’m sure he’d be more then happy to help you out.

http://www.freedomworks.org/…

Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill’s managers without debate this week, would require the nation’s payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

Call Congress and Tell Them to Oppose The eBay Reporting Provision in the Housing Bill: 1-866-928-3035

FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: “This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week. Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay’s PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America’s small businesses are breathtaking.”

“Privacy groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology and small business organizations like the NFIB sharply criticized this idea when it first appeared earlier this year. What is the federal government’s purpose with this kind of detailed data? How will this database be secured, and who will have access? Many small proprietors use their Social Security number as their tax ID. How will their privacy be protected? What compliance costs will this impose on businesses? Why is Sen. Chris Dodd putting this provision in a housing bailout bill? The bill also includes the creation of a new national fingerprint registry for mortgage brokers.

From the Senate Bill Summary:

Payment Card and Third Party Network Information Reporting. The proposal requires information reporting on payment card and third party network transactions. Payment settlement entities, including merchant acquiring banks and third party settlement organizations, or third party payment facilitators acting on their behalf, will be required to report the annual gross amount of reportable transactions to the IRS and to the participating payee. Reportable transactions include any payment card transaction and any third party network transaction. Participating payees include persons who accept a payment card as payment and third party networks who accept payment from a third party settlement organization in settlement of transactions. A payment card means any card issued pursuant to an agreement or arrangement which provides for standards and mechanisms for settling the transactions. Use of an account number or other indicia associated with a payment card will be treated in the same manner as a payment card. A de minimis exception for transactions of $10,000 or less and 200 transactions or less applies to payments by third party settlement organizations. The proposal applies to returns for calendar years beginning after December 31, 2010. Back-up withholding provisions apply to amounts paid after December 31, 2011. This proposal is estimated to raise $9.802 billion over ten years.

That third party exception appears to apply to places like Paypal but don’t many people use credit cards for their money source? Seems the government would end up getting that info anyway from the first party sources. Not to diminish how serious this proposal is but even if that isn’t the case having this on the books would just give them an incentive to expand on the idea later. I can see the reasoning now: “We need to make sure that terrorists aren’t laundering money through these payment proxies. Don’t worry… the data will be secure. We won’t use this for anything else. You’ve nothing to worry about if you’ve done nothing wrong. Right?”

http://www.ronpaulwarroom.com/?p=1751

I am informed directly by the Granny Warriors that PayPal did in fact freeze the funds earmarked for the Recount Fees! So, now you know who to blame for the failure to get a recount of the New Hampshire vote count. PayPal. The application for a recount of the New Hampshire vote required a deposit of $55,600 to the New Hampshire Secretary of State no later than 3:00 P.M. this afternoon, January 15th. A huge and successful effort by the Granny Warriors raised the money and they ordered the transfer to the Secretary. However, at the very last moment, PayPal FROZE THE ACCOUNT and did not transfer the money. The deadline for payment of the deposit passed and the recount application was rejected for lack of payment.

Emergency efforts by our folks on the scene in New Hampshire to push the recount through the Secretary’s office were not successful and a lot of frustration has been expressed on both sides as a result. The problem was not with the Secretary of State for New Hampshire, it was with PayPal. I understand that the matter may remain unresolved and a recount may still be possible. I am hoping for additional information early Wednesday, January 16th.

It appears that PayPal/Ebay owner Meg Whitman is a supporter of Mitt Romney, donated the max $2,300 and serves on his finance team. I really want more information on why they froze the account. There should be very explicit reasons given when someone’s account is frozen. I’ve not tracked down every aspect of this story but I’ve seen no explanation. The only update I’ve found is here and I’ve not yet listened to the interviews.

http://gizmodo.com/…

Count them. 275 Tranformers from the 80s. 101 Autobots, 81 Decepticons, 92 licensed products, some never removed from box, some mint-in-box, all ready for the mother of all battles. Sold for $1,000,000 at eBay in a story full of drama, love and cartoon passion that started out of pity for Starscream.

That is amazingly awesome. I have a decently sized collection… but it’s a childs collection. No boxes, things busted up from years of play, etc. Nor do I have that many of the original G1 set. I still have the bed sheets, pillow covers and comforters and curtains. The curtains are actually hanging up in my current bedroom… the pillow covers are in rotation.