@jerv: Bribery is as old as sin. “If you disobey God and eat the fruit, you’ll become like God yourselves” Whether or not Satan made good on that deal is irrelevant. It was trickery AND bribery. Its the fact that bribery is now protected under the First Amendment that bothers me. Sure, Microsoft could have bribed such-and-such politician with having one of their employees “buy their friend’s daughter” a brand new car, but now… pheww… Microsoft can legitimately dump, let’s say, hmmm, 50 million dollars on political ads supporting one particular candidate. How indebted is that politician to Microsoft now? Microsoft was chosen simply as an example. It opens the flood gates, so to speak. Before, companies had to be circumspect and subtle, which limited the impact they could have. Now, who knows?
-Dan