read update III, and you will likely agree that congress is molded by campaign-funders more than media or the WH.

And yet campaign finance reform and specifically public financing of campaigns is far, far down on the list of priorities in this campaign season. Public finance of campaigns is as close to a silver bullet in american politics as one can imagine, but never seems to materialize on the old radar screen very much.

As your child chews on that lead-painted toy while you call your unresponsive senator regarding wire-tapping immunity for AT&T, remember that campaign finance reform [or lack thereof] effects every citizen in this country, every hour, every day.

They're getting pretty sophisticated about it now. Texas legislative bribery (campaign financing) used to be so much more honest and colorful in the good old days. This is from NY Times archives, July 9, 1989. Bo Pilgrim, the hero in this tale, one Texan you'll never see complaining about illegal immigration, on account of all the wetbacks he has laboring in his chicken empire. These are the kinds of events that old Molly Ivins loved. Kind of.

Texas Businessman Hands Out $10,000 Checks in State Senate

A millionaire handed out $10,000 checks on the State Senate floor one day this week while legislation that interested him was pending. He says the checks were political contributions, not an attempt to bribe the lawmakers.

Business interests favored the bill, but the Senate rejected it in a vote that was not recorded.

Lonnie (Bo) Pilgrim, an East Texas chicken processor, offered the personal checks, with the payee's name left blank, to nine of the Senate's 31 members Wednesday, two days before the Senate's vote on a House workers' compensation bill.

Mr. Pilgrim, who said he was concerned about the high cost of workers' compensation in Texas, defended his distribution of the checks as a way of gaining the lawmakers' attention. 'For the Name Identification'

''The common practice of mine is to give large contributions to people -preachers, educational institutions and politicians - and $10,000 or $100,000 is a common practice with me,'' he said. ''It's primarily just for the name identification with the politicians. They will answer your calls and give you an appointment and listen to you describe an issue. It does not infer a bribe.''

Most lawmakers said they had returned the checks or planned to do so. But Senator O. H. Harris said he saw nothing wrong with accepting the money.

Blank payee lines like those on Mr. Pilgrim's checks are frequently used by contributors, because many people do not know the formal name of a politician's campaign committee, Mr. Harris said.

''I've received campaign contributions that size before,'' he said. ''If the principle's wrong, it don't matter if it's a dollar or a million, right? Everybody's got a different style.''

No Limits on Contributions

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said the incident showed it was time to change the state's campaign finance laws. ''It would be difficult to make it into a bribery case,'' he said. ''In Texas, it's almost impossible to bribe a public official as long as you report it.''

Texas law does not limit campaign contributions, although officeholders are barred from raising money during regular legislative sessions. But for three weeks the Texas Senate has been in special session, for which there is no such prohibition.

''I think it's outrageous,'' said Mr. Earle. ''It offends the integrity of the whole process.''

Senator Kent Caperton said that when he first heard about the checks, ''I thought they were joking.''

''It's just so outrageous,'' Mr. Caperton said. ''The law needs to be changed. We need more limits about when we can take money and how much.''

Representative David Hudson said he would introduce a bill to prohibit campaign contributions on the Capitol grounds. ''Such overt attempts to influence the way laws are made should be stopped,'' Mr. Hudson said.

"Sen. Barbara Boxer's office just contacted us to say former Vice President Al Gore has been called "overseas" for a trip related to his work on global warming and has canceled his scheduled appearance Thursday in San Francisco at a fundraiser for Boxer's re-election effort. So the Boxer fundraiser -- which was to include Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne -- is off until Nov. 9."

[W]ould you support President John Edwards? Remember, no coerced interrogation, civilian lawyers in courts for captured overseas terrorists, no branding the Iranian guards terrorists, and no phone surveillance without a specific warrant.

Clearly, Edwards is dangerous to our current style of government (neo-despotic). Thomas Jefferson is as well. But since Jefferson is not running for office, I will happily vote for Edwards if he ends up the nominee.

(Gore's the better choice though. Congratulations, Al.)

May I add that Bill O'Reilly is a festering, oozing abcess in the Gums of Liberty.