Centerfield

Network or Conspiracy?

I participated on the blogcall3 conference call sponsored by democrats.com, which was featured in the New York Times yesterday. My main motivation was to see how the system works, so that we might be able to use it for similar centrist efforts, in place of the Yahoo voice chat, which we found didn't work for all participants.

The only cost for the conference call is the long-distance charge which anyone calling in would be subject to. Since I've got the Verizon Freedom plan on my home phone, I don't expect to be charged for the hour I was on the phone today. How many of you would be willing to spend an hour on the phone on a conference call, let's say on a Sunday at 9PM EST, when the rates should be low?

With regard to the substance of the blogcall3, I found it more professional than I expected for reputed conspiracy theorists, as Charlie Quidnunc would have it (by the way, I listened to Charlie's podcast yesterday, and found it a nice way to "listen" to blog posts instead of listening to the radio).

The speakers were blogger-journalists from rawstory, who were digging up dirt on House Republican and their relationships with Jack Abramoff, which was discussed in another Centerfield post today. As one listens to the web of connections rawstory is publicizing, one could imagine they have uncovered a conspiracy. Some on the left might think they are heroes, while some on the right may think they are paranoid. In fact, what they relate is credible information about relationships between politicans, lobbyists, and political operatives, most or all of which are probably legal. The one question I asked was whether there were any illegalities. The speakers pointed to possible violations by DeLay in the Korea and Britain trips, but at least so far, not in any of the further areas of their investigation.

Still, I think what these folks are doing is worthwhile. There is a long history of politicians and their associates engaging in shady practices. It's not possible for the legal system to keep up with the way pols try to exploit their power. Perhaps the best way to police these practices is to make them public, and allow voters to decide whether an infraction should be punished. Demonstrating an unholy alliance between some members of the Religious Right and gambling interests may be one way to do that.

My only request is to keep it in perspective. I don't believe politics is more corrupt than in the past. In fact, I believe the opposite is true. We are far more likely to find out about corrupt and unethical dealings than in the good old days. Nor is a political network a conspiracy, unless they collude to engage in illegal activities.