[Rhodes22-list] How Much for the White House?

[Herb Parsons]

I have to say, if this is really true, the guy that did it has guts.

I'm not opposed to the current security climate, but I don't think I'd 
submit ANYTHING, and claim my name is "Osama Bin Laden" as a test. I 
wonder how many computers THAT kicked in the basement of some drab 
building somewhere?

The story itself.

Wow.



Brad Haslett wrote:
> Where are you, you chickenshits?  Send $15 to McCain and then send $15 to Obama.
>
> Tell me where I'm wrong.
>
> Chickenshits!
>
> Yeah, that's name calling.  So is Truth!
>
> Brad
>
> On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> The 2008 Presidential campaign will go down in history as the most
>> corrupt in our nation, ever. What we're witnessing here is something
>> you'd expect in some third-world banana republic. Remember the pledge
>> to take public campaign funds?  Vanished down the memory hole like so
>> many incriminating characters from the past.  Here's the latest
>> example-
>>
>> ------------------------
>>
>> October 23, 2008  Posted by Scott at 6:52 AM
>>
>> We've previously noted the gusher of illegal campaign contributions
>> flowing into the Obama campaign from contributors such as "Doodad Pro"
>> and "Good Will." More recently, incidents have been reported in which
>> people have seen credit card charges surface suggesting they donated
>> to Barack Obama when they did not. Matthew Mosk and Sarah Cohen noted
>> one such incident earlier this week:
>>
>>    Now comes the story of Mary T. Biskup, of Manchester, Missouri.
>> Biskup got a call recently from the Obama campaign, which was trying
>> to figure out why she donated $174,800 to the campaign -- well over
>> the contribution limit of $2,300.
>>
>>    The answer she gave them was simple. "That's an error."
>>
>> Is the Obama campaign knowingly receiving illegal contributions?
>> Yesterday one of our readers reported the results of an experiment he
>> conducted:
>>
>>    I've read recent reports of the Obama campaign receiving donations
>> from dubious names and foreign locales and it got me wondering: How is
>> this possible?
>>
>>    I run a small Internet business and when I process credit cards
>> I'm required to make sure the name on the card exactly matches the
>> name of the customer making the purchase. Also, the purchaser's
>> address must match that of the cardholders. If these don't match, then
>> the payment isn't approved. Period. So how is it possible that the
>> Obama campaign could receive donations from fictional people and
>> places? Well, I decided to do a little experiment. I went to the Obama
>> campaign website and entered the following:
>>
>>    Name: John Galt
>>    Address: 1957 Ayn Rand Lane
>>    City: Galts Gulch
>>    State: CO
>>    Zip: 99999
>>
>>    Then I checked the box next to $15 and entered my actual credit
>> card number and expiration date (it didn't ask for the 3-didgit code
>> on the back of the card) and it took me to the next page and... "Your
>> donation has been processed. Thank you for your generous gift."
>>
>>    This simply should not, and could not, happen in any business or
>> any campaign that is honestly trying to vet it's donors. Also, I don't
>> see how this could possibly happen without the collusion of the credit
>> card companies. They simply wouldn't allow any business to process,
>> potentially, hundreds of millions in credit card transactions where
>> the name on the card doesn't match the purchasers name.
>>
>>    In short, with the system set up as it is by the Obama camp, an
>> individual could donate unlimited amounts of money by simply making up
>> fake names and addresses. And Obama is doing his best to facilitate
>> this fraud. This is truly scandalous.
>>
>> Our reader was not yet done. He tried the experiment on the McCain
>> site: "I tried the exact same thing at the McCain site and it didn't
>> allow the transaction." He then repeated the experiment at the Obama
>> site:
>>
>>    I went back to the Obama site and made three additional donations
>> using the names Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers, all
>> with different addresses. All the transactions went through using the
>> same credit card. I saved screenshots of the transactions.
>>
>> Our reader reports, incidentally, that he was using his MasterCard for
>> the contributions. We submit this report in the spirit of inquiry and
>> would especially appreciate hearing from readers who can illuminate
>> how credit card procedures might (or might not) allow this to happen.
>>
>> UPDATE: Readers have replicated the experiment reported in this post.
>> We will have to revisit the issue tonight or tomorrow and appreciate
>> any information you can provide in the meantime.
>>
>>     
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