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1.23
date	2011.06.04.06.01.52;	author baccala;	state Exp;
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1.22
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1.23
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@
% EVERYTHING WRONG WITH CAPITALISM EXCEPT THE CHRISTIAN CASE AGAINST IT.
% CAPITALISM DISCRIMINATES AGAINST PEOPLE WHO ARE GENEROUS.

Perhaps because of his attitude, perhaps because of his altitude,
perhaps because of his impunity, completely beyond the reach of any
terrestrial authority, or perhaps simply because of what he said and
how he said it, Marc Mercuriou seemed to incite the ire of nearly every
American political leader, regardless of party affiliation or personal
background.

"Get the hell out of the left lane, fifty-five!"

Congressman Richard Ecks leaned on his horn and zoomed around the
slower car, passing it on the right.  His radio and TV show had been
on the air longer than he had been in Congress, and this harried
commute from his office on Capital Hill to his studio in Fairfax had
become a daily ritual.  He pulled into his reserved parking spot and
hustled inside, skipping the elevator and instead jogging up three
flights of stairs.

"What did I miss?" he gasped as he reached the top, where his producer
met him with a blank stare.

"Nothing.  We're still on with the space captain at nine."

Ecks gulped down one of the steamed broccoli and banana seed
milkshakes that he relied on to keep his 300 pound bulk under control.
He changed, put on his makeup, drank half of another milkshake at his
desk on the set, then set it out of view as the cameras came on.

Ecks: "Good evening, and welcome to 'Outside the Beltway'."

Ecks: "Capitalism has produced a society with the highest standard of
living that has ever been seen on this planet.  People are well-fed,
well-housed, generally content with their jobs, with a surplus of
leisure time and disposible income.  Yet our opponents slam us at
every turn because they can't stand the idea of people working hard
and getting rewarded for that work.  Now this thief comes along, this
criminal who has taken advantage of our society, stolen from our
businesses and our government, lied, cheated; he comes along with the
nerve to blame capitalism for what?  For letting him take advantage of
our freedom?  For giving him the opportunity to pull of one of the
greatest con jobs in history -- the 'Republic of Mars'?  Let me start
by asking you, _Captain_ -- how do you justify your theft?"

Mercuriou: "Same way they justified Hiroshima -- it had to be done."

Ecks: "Hiroshima?  We were at war, a war Japan started!"

Mercuriou: "_Japan_?!  What _Japan_?  The women and children, the
innocent civilians that died, _they_ started the war?  _They_ attacked
us?  We did what we _had_ to do to win, and there was some 'collateral
damage'.  Same thing here."

Ecks: "And how... what war... again, how do you justify your theft?"

Mercuriou: "It had to be done!  To stop capitalism!  To stop democracy!
It had to be done!"

Ecks stared bewildered at the screen while Mercuriou droned on.

Mercuriou: "The communists loved to spout off about how they had put
the first man in space, and how they had brought tractors and steel
factories to this backwards, feudal country, and how everyone was
guaranteed an education, and health care, and retirement, and how
wonderful communism was.  And the fascists loved to gush about their
Zeppelin airships, and their autobahns, and how they had pulled
Germany out of a worldwide recession, and how they were rebuilding
their Reich and how great fascism was.  It's all true!"

Mercuriou: "At some point, though, you see a bigger, a more objective
truth.  Every one of these societies was built on the most viscious
traits of mankind, and captialism is no exception.  `Conflict and
competition drive human progress forward,' they say.  We've seen human
progress driven by class conflict, we've seen human progress driven by
racial conflict, and now we've got human progress driven by economic
conflict.  So if you want want Zeppelins, or Sputniks, or Microsoft
Windows, and these things are more important to you than your freedom,
then pick whichever one of these brutal philosophies most appeal to
you and go sign up."

Ecks: "...and all this justifies theft how?"

Mercuriou: "It has to be stopped!  Just like facism!  Just like
communism!  Now, I did what I had to do.  I've answered your question,
so move on."

There was a pause, and then another.

Ecks_Mercuriou_Ecks: "...and this 'Republic of Mars'... how is its government structured?"  "I'm the acting chief executive"  "of course"

Ecks_Mercuriou: "...should we call you President?"
"Captain"

Mercuriou reached dramatically for a prominently positioned switch.

Ecks: "Alright, _Captain_, capitalism may not be perfect, and this
society may not be perfect, but what sets us apart from communism and
fascism is our commitment to freedom."

Mercuriou: "Freedom?  What freedom?  You have the freedom to be a
capitalist, or to work for the capitalists, or to be put homeless on
the streets!"

Ecks: "Well, I guess freedom _is_ limited for people who don't want to
work..."

Mercuriou: "Let's shortcut this debate.  'Work' is a propaganda term
that means 'making money', right?"

Ecks: "No, 'work' means 'work'!"

Mercuriou: "For the capitalist system!  Work
_for_the_capitalist_system_!  You always like to leave that part out!
You carry on like everyone who opposes this society is a lazy bum who
sits around drinking beer and watching Jerry Springer all day!"

Ecks: "They are what they are!  We reward people who work, not people
who don't!"

Mercuriou: "What's 'work'?  Does a stay-at-home mom 'work'?  Does
someone running a soup kitchen 'work'?  And do they get the same
reward as someone running a restaurant?  If I write software and put
it up on the Internet for free, is that 'work'?  Where's my reward?"

Ecks: "Well, that's a hobby."

Mercuriou: "A hobby?"

Ecks: "Something you do in your spare time.  A job is what you do to
put food on the table.  We have to work in order to eat, Captain.  We
have to work to have houses, cars, clothes, computers, all of it.  We
have to sustain ourselves!"

Mercuriou: "How do you sustain yourself?  By refusing to do for people
unless they pay you?  How does that sustain anyone?  But you dodged my
question, Congressman.  Are you defining work as making money, or
doing something productive?"

Ecks: "There's no difference!  That's the beauty of capitalism; people
get rewarded for hard work!"

Mercuriou: "No difference!  Some kid makes millions throwing a
baseball, and father of five make pennies pushing a hot dog cart!  Did
Mother Teresa work?"

Ecks: "She solicited donations; she was paid!"

Mercuriou: "Capitalists do not solicit donations; capitalism is a
restaurant that refuses to serve people unless they pay."

Ecks: "It is capitalism, because we have _freedom_!  You can be a
businessman if you choose, you can be social worker if you choose, you
can be an author, you can be a doctor; it's nothing imposed by the
government; it's your choice!  You can be Mother Teresa!  And you
don't like to hear this, Captain, but most people want is to better
themselves through hard work, not charity handouts!"

Mercuriou: "Then at least admit that capitalism rewards people who
_do_for_themselves_!  Sure seemes like the only way to get rewarded
for hard work is to slap a credit card form on everything!"

Ecks: "Because in the real world, if you just give everything away,
you'll be out of business!"

Mercuriou: "That's right!  That's the 'freedom' of capitalism -- you
become a capitalist or you'll be put out of business!  We pay pitchers
millions a year, support video game, music and film industries that
each rake in more than ten billion a year, blow half a trillion a year
on the military, but we can't afford to feed people in restaurants?
Your 'capitalist democracy' is depraved!  Your leaders are trash!
Your entire society is built on forced labor for these creeps!"

Ecks: "Freedom, Captain, Freedom!!  Who the hell are you to tell
someone else what they can and can't do with their property?!!  How
dare you, you socialist crook, you shameless thief, how dare you tell
someone who's sweated tears and blood that they have to give
everything away for free?!  I've let you rant on because I felt like
listening to your bombast! You're like a blind man screaming 'You
Blinked!'  How are you so much better than all these terrible
capitalists?  You're the worst kind of capitalist -- you've stolen
millions, billions of dollars to build your own dream!  You needed
money -- that's why most people go to work in the morning!  That's why
all these evil capitalists don't just publish all their books on the
Internet -- because the authors need money to write them, money to
print them, money to put food on the table in front of their children!
You've got a problem with _authority_, _Captain_!  Let's take a break
now and I'll introduce our next guest when we return."

@


1.22
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d47 1
a47 1
Mercuriou: "Same way they justified Hiroshima - it had to be done."
d91 1
a91 1
Ecks_Mercuriou_Ecks: "...and this 'Republic of Mars'... how is its government structured?"  "I'm the acting chief executive."  "of course"
d94 1
a94 1
"Captain."
@


1.21
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d168 6
a173 53
become a capitalist or you'll be put out of business!  We can pay
pitchers and quarterbacks millions of dollars a year, support video
game, music and film industries that each rake in more than ten
billion a year, blow half a trillion a year on the military, but we
can't afford to feed people in restaurants?  Your 'capitalist
democracy' is depraved!  Your leaders are trash!  Your entire society
is built on forced labor for these creeps!"

Ecks: "I know, I know, everyone who wants to make money is trash,
everyone who just wants a better life for themselves and their
children is a creep..."

Mercuriou: "No, Congressman, but a bunch of men determined to outlaw
twenty-first century public libraries before they're ever been created
_are_ trash, they are!  This society isn't going to be remembered for
all this so-called freedom, let me assure you.  It's going to
remembered for secrecy.  The books, the blueprints, the source code,
the circuit diagrams, the manufacturing processes!  All kept secret by
these capitalists determined to keep the whole world dependent on them
and their nightmare system, and then they tell the rest of the world
to 'compete' in their 'global economy'!  They want 'freedom'...  they
want their _own_ freedom!"

Ecks: "Captain, you seem to think everyone has to do things your way!
Those authors, those designers, they could give everything away like
you suggest, they have that power, they have that _right_!"

Mercuriou: "I am so sick of hearing about people's 'rights'!  Whenever
I hear that word, the next thing I start figuring is 'who's getting
screwed'..."

Ecks: "It's called _freedom_."

Mercuriou: "Freedom?  What freedom?  Under capitalism?  The freedom to
starve if you won't work when you're told?  The lion and the
wilderbeast both have 'freedom', Congressman..."

Ecks: "Captain, if you don't work, you will not starve, because just
about every American city has a soup kitchen or homeless shelter of
one kind of another.  On the other hand, those who do work can expect
to be paid for their labor, and it is entirely up to them what they do
with it.  The abundance of charities in this country is an elegant
testimony to the generosity of the American people."

Mercuriou: "Sounds great.  Sound like everywhere you go in the U.S, you
must see charity after charity after charity, and occasionally a
business."

Ecks: "There's nothing wrong with running a business.  Where do you
think all that money comes from for those charities?"

Mercuriou: "OK, if those businesses are so generous, why bother with
the price tags?"
d182 1
a182 1
capitalists?  You're the worst kind of capitalist - you've stolen
d184 1
a184 1
money - that's why most people go to work in the morning!  That's why
d186 1
a186 1
Internet - because the authors need money to write them, money to
@


1.20
log
@Added epilog
@
text
@d137 1
a137 3
unless they pay you?  How does that sustain anyone?  It makes no sense
to say that people aren't sustaining themselves because they are
willing to serve people that others won't.  But you dodged my
d144 3
a146 4
Mercuriou: "There most certainly is a difference!  We've got people
who make millions throwing a baseball, and people who make pennies
pushing a hot dog cart!  I want to know if a man running a soup
kitchen 'works', or is it just a hobby?"
d148 1
a148 1
Ecks: "Well, if he can solicit enough donations; I'd call it 'work'!"
d150 2
a151 1
Mercuriou: "This is capitalism?  Soliciting donations?"
d153 1
a153 8
Ecks: "It can be."

Mercuriou: "No, now you're twisting words again.  Capitalism is a
restaurant that refuses to serve people unless they pay; capitalists
do not solicit donations."

Ecks: "It most certainly is capitalism, because the difference between
capitalism and socialism is _individual_freedom_.  You can be a
d156 6
a161 8
government; it's your choice!  And maybe you don't like to hear this,
Captain, but what most people want is to _make_money_!  Most people
want the opportunity to better themselves through hard work, not
charity handouts!"

Mercuriou: "Then why don't they work even harder serving people who
can't or won't pay?!  Since capitalism rewards work, I guess the
donations just fly in!  Sure seemes like the only way to get rewarded
d165 1
a165 1
you'll be out of business."
d168 7
a174 26
become a capitalist or you'll be put out of business!"

Ecks: "We just can't afford it!"

Mercuriou: "We can pay pitchers and quarterbacks millions of dollars a
year, support video game, music and film industries that each rake in
more than ten billion a year, blow half a trillion a year on the
military, but we can't afford to feed people in restaurants?  Even if
this absurd proposition were true, it would be an argument for
rationing, not capitalism."

Ecks: "Yes, rationing, Captain, by the government!  Who's going to pay
to feed everyone, Captain, the government!  Who's going to make all
those evil capitalists do right, the government!  It's the same tired
old liberal story all over again.  Always the government!"

Mercuriou: "Look, I'm no great politician, and I can't lay out some big
complex political scheme, Congressman, but I can tell you that people
should be generous, not selfish, especially the _leaders_ of society!"

Ecks: "So, you have no answer, Captain, by your own admission you have
no answer!"

Mercuriou: "I most certainly do have an answer!  Your 'capitalist
democracy' is depraved -- that's my answer!  Your leaders are trash!
Your entire society is built on forced labor for these creeps!"
@


1.19
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d44 2
a45 2
greatest con jobs in history - the 'Republic of Mars'?  Let me start
by asking you, _Captain_ - how do you justify your theft?"
d78 4
a81 5
conflict.  All the speeches come down to one thing - social Darwinism,
slightly edited for a new generation.  So if you want want Zeppelins,
or Sputniks, or Microsoft Windows, and these things are more important
to you than your freedom, then pick whichever one of these brutal
philosophies most appeal to you and go sign up."
d83 1
a83 1
Ecks: "All this justifies theft how?"
@


1.18
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d29 2
a30 2
He changed, put on his makeup, and drank half of another milkshake at
his desk on the set, then set it out of view as the cameras came on.
d49 1
a49 1
Ecks: "Hiroshima?  We were at war, a war they started!"
d51 1
a51 1
Mercuriou: "_They_?!  What _they_?  The women and children, the
d92 1
a92 3
Ecks: "...and this 'Republic of Mars'... how is its government structured?"
Mercuriou: "I'm the acting chief executive."
Ecks: "of course"
d94 2
a95 2
Ecks: "...should we call you President?"
Mercuriou: "Captain."
d97 1
a97 2
After a pause, Mercuriou dramatically reached for a prominently
positioned switch.
d103 1
a103 1
Mercuriou: "Freedom?  What freedom?  You have the freedom to become a
d118 1
a118 2
wants to sit around drinking beer and watching Jerry Springer all
day!"
d134 2
a135 1
have to work to have houses, cars, clothes, computers, all of it."
d137 6
a142 2
Mercuriou: "You dodged my question, Congressman.  Are you defining work
as making money, or doing something productive?"
d179 16
a194 10
Mercuriou: "That's right!  That's the 'freedom' of capitalism - you
become a capitalist or you'll be put out of business.  And then if you
won't work for these bums, you'll be put homeless on the street and
all these great, decent people will sneer at you as they walk past and
call you a bum without saying a word!"

Ecks: "So who's going to pay to feed all those bums, Captain, the
government, right?  Who's going to make all those evil capitalists do
right, the government!  It's the same old tired story of socialism all
over again."
d204 1
a204 1
democracy' is depraved - that's my answer!  Your leaders are trash!
d222 46
a267 14
Ecks: "Who the hell are you to tell someone else what they can and
can't do with their property?!!  How dare you, you socialist crook,
you shameless thief, how dare you tell someone who's sweated tears and
blood that they have to give everything away for free?!  I've let you
rant on because I felt like listening to your bombast! You're like a
blind man screaming 'You Blinked!'  How are you so much better than
all these terrible capitalists?  You're the worst kind of capitalist -
you've stolen millions, billions of dollars to build your own dream!
You needed money - that's why most people go to work in the morning!
That's why all these evil capitalists don't just publish all their
books on the Internet - because the authors need money to write them,
money to print them, money to put food on the table in front of their
children!  You've got a problem with _authority_, _Captain_!  Let's
take a break now and I'll introduce our next guest when we return."
@


1.17
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d87 2
a88 2
communism!  Now, I did what I felt I had to do.  I've answered your
question, so move on."
d92 1
a92 2
Ecks: "And this 'Republic of Mars'... how is its government structured?"

d94 1
d96 2
a97 1
Ecks: "of course"
d99 2
a100 1
Mercuriou dramatically reached for a prominently positioned switch.
d102 1
a102 1
Ecks: "Alright, Mercuriou, capitalism may not be perfect, and this
@


1.16
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d8 1
a8 1
how he said it, Mercuriou seemed to incite the ire of nearly every
@


1.15
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d218 1
a218 1
blind man screaming 'You blinked!'  How are you so much better than
@


1.14
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d78 5
a82 5
conflict.  All the speeches come down to one thing - social Darwinism.
So if you want want Zeppelins, or Sputniks, or Microsoft Windows, and
these things are more important to you than your freedom, then pick
whichever one of these brutal philosophies most appeal to you and go
sign up."
d92 8
d144 4
a147 4
Mercuriou: "There most certainly is a difference!  We've got people who
make millions throwing a baseball, and people who work their butts off
for nothing!  I want to know if a man running a soup kitchen 'works',
or is it just a hobby?"
@


1.13
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d2 9
a10 2
EVERYTHING WRONG WITH CAPITALISM EXCEPT THE CHRISTIAN CASE AGAINST IT.
CAPITALISM DISCRIMINATES AGAINST PEOPLE WHO ARE GENEROUS.
d53 2
a54 2
us?  We did what we had to do to win, and there was some collateral
damage.  Same thing here."
d72 6
a77 6
Mercuriou: "At some point you see a bigger, a more objective truth.
Every one of these societies was built on the most viscious traits of
mankind, and captialism is no exception.  `Conflict and competition
drive human progress forward,' they say.  We've seen human progress
driven by class conflict, we've seen human progress driven by racial
conflict, and now we've got human progress driven by economic
@


1.12
log
@*** empty log message ***
@
text
@d30 9
a38 9
leisure time and disposible income.  Yet our opponents slam us
[capitalism] at every turn because they can't stand the idea of people
working hard and getting rewarded for that work.  Now this thief comes
along, this criminal who has taken advantage of our society, stolen
from our businesses and our government, lied, cheated; he comes along
with the nerve to blame capitalism for what?  For letting him take
advantage of our freedom?  For giving him the opportunity to pull of
one of the greatest con jobs in history - the 'Republic of Mars'?  Let
me start by asking you, _Captain_ - how do you justify your theft?"
d40 1
a40 1
Mercuriou: "Same way we justified Hiroshima - it had to be done."
d54 2
d63 13
a75 12
their Reich and how great fascism was.  It's all true! but at some
point you see a bigger, a more objective truth.  Every one of these
societies was built on the most viscious traits of mankind, and
captialism is no exception.  `Conflict and competition drive human
progress forward,' they say.  We've see the idea that racial conflict
drives human progress forward, we've see the idea that class conflict
drives human progress forward, and now we've got the idea that economic
conflict drives human progress forward.  All the nice speeches come
down to one thing - social Darwinism.  So if you want want Zeppelins,
or Sputniks, or Microsoft Windows, and these things are more important
to you than your freedom, then pick whichever one of these brutal
philosophies most appeal to you and go sign up."
d107 2
a108 2
Ecks: "They are what they are!  We reward people who work, not a
bunch of lazy bums!"
d154 2
a155 1
can't or won't pay?!  Sure seemes like the only way to get rewarded
d210 2
a211 173
children!"

Mercuriou: "I've 'learned my lesson'!  I've figured how to 'get things
done' in the 'real world'!  I've learned to 'compete'!  You crow on
about rewarding people for their hard work!  I couldn't begin to build
this ship without stealing it!  Where's my reward?  Why do you have to
become either a capitalist or a thief to get this kind of
opportunity?"

Ecks: "Captain, you seem to think everyone has to do things your way!
Those authors, they could give everything away like you suggest, they
have that power, they have that _right_!"

Mercuriou: "I am so sick of hearing about people's 'rights'!  Whenever
I hear that word, the next thing I start figuring is 'who's getting
screwed'..."

Ecks: "It's called _freedom_."

Mercuriou: "Freedom?  What freedom?  Under capitalism?  The freedom to
starve if you won't work when you're told?  The lion and the
wilderbeast both have 'freedom', Congressman..."

Ecks: "Captain, capitalism may not be perfect, but if you don't work,
you will not starve, because just about every American city has a soup
kitchen or homeless shelter of one kind of another.  On the other
hand, those who do work can expect to be paid for their labor, and it
is entirely up to them what they do with it.  The abundance of
charities in this country is an elegant testimony to the generosity of
the American people."

Mercuriou: "Sounds great.  Sound like everywhere you go in the U.S, you
must see charity after charity after charity, and occasionally a
business."

Ecks: "There's nothing wrong with running a business.  Where do you
think all that money comes from for those charities?"

Mercuriou: "OK, if those businesses are so generous, why bother with
the price tags?"

Ecks: "Again, it comes down to a simple principle, captain - freedom!
The businessman does not dictate to his stockholders how they should
spend their money.  Instead, the businessman collects revenue from his
customers, uses those revenues to pay the expenses of the business,
and then returns the surplus both to the employees in the form of
bonuses and to the investors in the form of dividends.  It is then up
to the employees and investors how to spend _their_money_.  If they
wish to give to charities, they can do so.  Furthermore, the
businessman has a moral responsibility to operate his business
responsibly, because it _isn't_his_money_."

Mercuriou: "Isn't his money?!"

Ecks: "That's right, captain.  It's the shareholder's money.  For the
businessman to simply give it away as you suggest would amount to
taxation without representation, or to put it more bluntly, theft.
Many capitalists are good, decent people who have founded charities,
started schools and universities, established endowment funds...  Your
ideas sound very noble and idealistic, but how do you put them into
practice?  Force them on people with the government, right?  That's
what it always comes down to.  Look, let's take a break now and I'll
introduce our next guest when we return."

Mercuriou: "Is is time for the 'democratic response'?"


==================

"See this is what people like you don't understand about capitalism.
It gives people opportunity..."

------

Ecks is going to pull out the line about "work", and Mercuriou's
answer will be "Let's just cut right to the chase and shortcut this debate.
'Work' becomes 'making money'.  There's lots of work you can do..."



Liberalism makes people lazy.  Work this in somewhere (probably Ecks)

------

We can't afford to run non-profit restaurants.

Again, let's get clear on our propaganda terms.  Are you staying
that _in_general_ we can't afford this, or that _under_capitalism_
we can't afford this?

I find this very hard to believe.  You want me to believe that we can
pay pitchers and quarterbacks millions of dollars a year, support
video game, music and film industries that each rake in more than ten
billion a year, blow half a trillion a year on the military, but we
can't afford to feed people in restaurants?  Even if this absurd
proposition were true, it would be an argument for rationing, not
capitalism.

------

One can't live without sustaining oneself.

In one sense, this is obviously true - if most of us don't contribute
meaningfully in some way, we'll all starve.

How do you sustain yourself?  By refusing to do for people unless they
pay you?  How does that sustain anyone?  It makes no sense to say that
people aren't sustaining themselves because they are willing to serve
people that others won't.  Let's face it - we live in a society where
we are FORCED to work.  You're not sustaining yourself; you're doing
what you are FORCED to do by an oppressive and immoral society!

Freedom - can you give people the freedom to choose their own work?

------

and all this bullshit about your "competitors"?!  Who are these people
They're your colleagues, right?  They're the people doing the same
kind of things you're doing, but instead of helping each other, you
try to bust each other's bank account.

-----

Implicit in his argument is the assumption everyone lives that way!


-----

Who's doing to pay for it, Captain?

"The authors pay for it.  They write the books, publish them on the
Internet, give copies freely to anyone who wants them whether they pay
or not, and end up homeless on the streets, because most people take
whatever they can get for free, and slame the door shut on anyone who
can't pay."

-----

Mercuriou: You won't be able to compete because your product is
inferior.  Let's take, for example, Kenya.  Now, what you offer Kenya,
under the guise of "globalization", is a straightforward deal - find
something to sell, something you've got and we want, and then in
return we'll sell you our closed, secret, proprietary technology that
you'll have to pay out of the nose [CA] for.  What I'll offer Kenya is
something else - all the software, the chip masks, the factory
blueprints - everything they need to build their own computers, their
own cell phones, their own data networks.  Now, which of these two
"products" do you think this "customer" will prefer?


Ecks: Freedom for thieves!  That's what you want!  Freedom for thieves!

Mercuriou: What "theft"?  You walk into a museum and take a picture of
the painting, or setup an easel to paint your own copy, nobody calls
that "theft"!  You lift the painting off the wall, put it under your
arm and walk out the door - _that_'s theft!  What you call theft is
nothing more than education, and what you call virtue is a world where
knowledge is a weapon used to maintain an economic and technological
tyranny!  "Give a man a fish, he's fed for a day; teach a man to fish,
he'd fed for life."  Well, the capitalists have a new way - get a
process patent on fishing, then he has to pay you everytime he throws
a line in the water.


Ecks: We need to lower taxes and get rid of government regulation on
private enterprise.

Mercuriou: Then you'll be right back to where you were a hundred years
ago, with massive pollution, key industries run into the ground by
monopolies.

-----

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Mercuriou: You're damn right I've got a problem with authority!  I've
got a problem with authority when the people in authority are just a
bunch of self-serving creeps!  Now why couldn't we have just put that
program up on the network?  What is so terrible about that?
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progress forward,' they say.  We've see fascism - racial conflict
drives human progress forward, we've see communism - class conflict
drives human progress forward, and now we've got capitalism - economic
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Ecks: "Well, they are what they are!  We reward people who work, not a
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Ecks: "That's a hobby."
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won't work for these bums, you'll be put homeless and starving on the
street and all these great, decent people will spit on you as they
walk past and call you a bum who doesn't want to work!"
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Your entire society is built on forced labor for these bums!"
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children is a bum..."
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what it always comes down to."
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Mercuriou: Is is time for the "democratic response"?
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Mercuriou: OK, I'm going to give you a perfect example of how
capitalism 'works', Congressman.  Fifteen years ago, I and a college
friend of mine developed a computer program to aid people in reading
Greek literature.  You could load any Greek text into the program, and
it would display it on the screen.  If you came across a word you
didn't understand, you could click on it with the mouse, the program
would look it up in a Greek-English dictionary and display the entry
at the bottom of the screen.  It was a lot faster than flipping pages
in a dictionary, trust me, and a great learning tool.  I finished the
last half of the _Iliad_ using it, and it was like night and day
compared to old way of stopping at every other word and looking it up
in a different book.  We put a copy up on the Internet.  We started
telling a lot of people in the classics community about it and started
getting some really good feedback.  We had plans to develop a Latin
version, too.  Then came along the publishers of the dictionary - the
capitalists.

Mercuriou: See, we had just taken a Greek-English dictionary that we
had on one of the computers at the university and incorporated it into
the program.  When we put the program up on the network, we of course
included the dictionary, because the program was pretty useless
without it.  A lot of people thought our program was a great idea, but
the publishers of the dictionary didn't.  They sued us for copyright
infringement.

Mercuriou: Now they were willing to cut a deal, of course.  If we took
the program down off the network, changed it into a for-profit product
and paid them a royalty on every copy we sold, we could use their
dictionary!  But we couldn't use it just to let people download the
program for free.  I decided to fight.  I still believed in the great
U. S. of A. back them.  I thought that without the money for a lawyer,
I could represent myself in court.  I believed that I could appeal
beyond the copyright law to generosity and [WHAT].  I didn't realize
that our legal system was built like a casino game, and everytime you
tried to assert your rights, it just gave the lawyers a chance to
double down.  After a year-long legal battle, I ended up with a court
judgement against me for a half million dollars, and for what?
Because I worked hard, developed a useful product, and wanted
available to everyone who wanted a copy.

Ecks: Well, Captain, it sounds to me like you were guilty!  That's a
real noble cause, but the bottom line is that you stole someone else's
intellectual property and published it without their permission.  You
seem to have a problem with authority.
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Mercuriou: You're damn right I've got a problem with authority!  I've
got a problem with authority when the people in authority are just a
bunch of self-serving creeps!  Now why couldn't we have just put that
program up on the network?  What is so terrible about that?

Ecks: Captain, again, the bottom line is that it wasn't your property.
The publishers of that dictionary, whoever they are, could have chosen
to publish it for free, but it's their property and their choice.  I'm
sure they put as much work into it as you did into your program, maybe
more, and they chose to sell it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Mercuriou: There's a hell of a lot wrong with it.  For starters, what
about all this talk of how competition drives innovation and progress.
Where was my reward for my innovation and hard work?  Sure seemed like
the only way to get it was to slap a credit card form on everything!
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Ecks: Because in the real world, if you just give everything away,
you'll be out of business.

Mercuriou: That's right!  That's the 'freedom' of capitalism - you
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walk past and call you a bum who doesn't want to work!
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Ecks: So who's going to pay for these free dictionaries, Captain, the
government, right?  Who's going to make all those evil capitalists put
those dictionaries on the Internet, the government, right?  It's the
same old tired story of socialism all over again.

Mercuriou: Look, I'm no great politician, and I can't lay out some big
complex scheme for paying those dictionaries, and I'm no great
philospher either, but I can tell you that people should be generous,
not selfish, especially the _leaders_ of society!

Ecks: So, you have no answer, Captain, by your own admission you have
no answer!

Mercuriou: I most certainly do have an answer!  Your 'capitalist
system' is depraved - that's my answer!  Your leaders are trash!  Your
entire society is built on forced labor for these bums!
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Ecks: I know, I know, everyone who wants to make money is trash,
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children is a bum...
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Mercuriou: No, Congressman, but a bunch of men determined to outlaw
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to 'compete'!  They talk about 'freedom', 'freedom'; the only freedom
they're interested in is their own!
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Mercuriou: You no good bum, you sit there with your jacket and tie on
and try to defend a bunch of creeps that won't lift a finger for
anyone unless they're getting something out of it for themselves!
What is so terrible about public libraries?  What is so terrible about
information being free?  What is so terrible about taking these books
and putting them up on our networks for anyone to read and use?  I
tell you that we could build a twenty-first century library of
Alexandria, we could take every book in every library on this planet,
scan it, and put it up on that network, but that's not what our
leaders want.  They want an "information economy", where knowledge is
just one more commodity to bought and sold, and the only way people
will pay for it is if it's kept secret.  That's the sick truth about
your 'global economic system'!

Ecks: Who the hell are you to tell someone else what they can and
can't do with their property?!?!  How dare you, you socialist crook,
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all these terrible capitalists you lambast?  You're the worst kind of
capitalist - you've stolen millions, billions of dollars to stroke
your own pet!  You needed money - that's why most people go to work in
the morning!  That's why all these evil capitalists don't just publish
all their books on the Internet - because the authors need money to
write them, money to print them, money to put food on the table in
front of their children!

Mercuriou: Well I've 'learned my lesson'!  I've figured how to 'get
things done' in the 'real world'!  I've learned to 'compete'!  You
crow on about rewarding people for their hard work!  Why doesn't
everyone get rewarded for their hard work?  Why do only the most
selfish people get rewarded?  Why do you have to become either a
capitalist or a thief to get this kind of opportunity?

Ecks: Captain, you seem to think everyone has to do things your way!
Again, those people have the right to decide what happens to _their_
work, simply because it is _their_ work.  The authors, they could
decide to put it online like you suggest, they have that power, they
have that _right_!

Mercuriou: You know, I am so sick of hearing about people's 'rights'!
Whenever I hear that word, the next thing I start figuring is 'who's
getting screwed'.  People talk about their 'rights' when they want to
jam somebody else's face in the mud.  You want to build this
'information economy', where knowledge is just one more commodity to
bought and sold, and the only way people will pay for it is if it's
kept secret.  Then they talk about their 'rights'!  They've got the
'right' to keep that information secret, so copying books online is
illegal, and it's illegal for the same reason that photocopiers and
fax machines were illegal in the Soviet Union - the potential of the
technology represents too great a threat to the system's ability to
control people's lives.

Ecks: It's called _freedom_.

Mercuriou: What freedom?  When you live in a society where everything
is controlled by money?  The freedom to starve if you won't become a
capitalist?  The lion and the wilderbeast both have 'freedom',
Congressman...
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Ecks: Captain, capitalism may not be perfect, but if you don't work,
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the American people.
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Mercuriou: Sounds great.  Sound like everywhere you go in the U.S, you
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business.
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Ecks: There's nothing wrong with running a business, captain.  Where do
you think all that money comes from for those charities?
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Mercuriou: OK, well if those businesses are so generous, then why
bother with the price tags?
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Ecks: Again, it comes down to a simple principle, captain - freedom!
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responsibly, because it _isn't_his_money_.
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Mercuriou: Isn't his money?!
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Ecks: That's right, captain.  It's the shareholder's money.  For the
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what it always comes down to.  [IMPROVE] We're almost out of time; any
final remarks?
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innocent civilians, they started the war?  They attacked us?  We did
what we had to do to win.  Same thing here.  That was quite a nice
speech, by the way; now let me make mine."
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captialism is no exception.  "Conflict and competition drive human
progress forward," they say.  We've see fascism - racial conflict
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to you than your freedom, then should pick whichever one of these
brutal philosophies most appeal to you and go sign up."
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Ecks: All this justifies theft how?
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Mercuriou: "You want to talk about my theft, you'll do it full screen.
You want to talk about capitalism, you can do it split screen."
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There was another two second pause.
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Ecks: Alright, Mercuriou, I'll debate you.  Capitalism may not be
perfect, and this society may not be perfect, but what sets us apart
from communism and fascism is our commitment to freedom.
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Mercuriou: Freedom?  What freedom?  You have the freedom to become a
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the streets!
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Ecks: Well, I guess freedom _is_ limited for people who don't want to
work...
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Mercuriou: Let's shortcut this debate.  'Work' is a propaganda term
that means 'making money', right?
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Ecks: No, 'work' means 'work'!
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You carry on like everyone who opposed this society is a lazy bum who
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Ecks: Well, they are what they are!  We reward people who work, not a
bunch of lazy bums!
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Mercuriou: What's 'work'?  Does a stay-at-home mom 'work'?  Does
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it up on the Internet for free, is that 'work'?  Where's my reward?
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Ecks: That's a hobby.
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Mercuriou: A hobby?
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Ecks: Something you do in your spare time.  A job is what you do to
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have to work to have houses, cars, clothes, computers, all of it.
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Mercuriou: You dodged my question, Congressman.  Are you defining work
as making money, or doing something productive?
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Ecks: There's no difference!  That's the beauty of capitalism; people
get rewarded for hard work!
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Mercuriou: There most certainly is a difference!  We've got people who
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or is it just a hobby?
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Ecks: Well, he can solicit enough donations; I'd call it 'work'!
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Mercuriou: This is capitalism?  Soliciting donations?
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Ecks: It can be.
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Mercuriou: No, now you're twisting that word.  Capitalism is a
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do not solicit donations.
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Ecks: It most certainly is capitalism, because the difference between
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charity handouts!
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speech, by the way; now let me make mine.
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brutal philosophies most appeal to you and go sign up.
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Mercuriou: You want to talk about my theft, you'll do it full screen.
You want to talk about capitalism, you can do it split screen.
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Mercuriou: For the capitalist system!  Work
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Ecks: Good evening, and welcome to 'Outside the Beltway'.
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"Capitalism has produced a society with the highest standard of living
that has ever been seen on this planet.  People are well-fed,
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me start by asking you, _Captain_ - how do you justify your theft?
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I've acting chief executive of the Republic; I was just wielding a
little Executive power.
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I'm sorry?
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Executive power.  We have three branches of government, executive,
legislative, and judiciary.  I was just wielding a little executive
power, by appropriating some taxation.

Taxation is a legislative power, not an executive power.  You
confusion brings to light a key issue with the "Republic of Mars".
You appropriate not just Executive but also Legislative power by both
collecting taxes and also imposing them.  In our system, different
people perform different functions.

Yes, but they are all chosen by elections.

There was a pause.

I'm sorry?  You object to elections, why am I not surprised to hear
that?!

[TRANSITION BETTER]

Mercuriou: That was quite a nice speech; now let me make mine.

Mercuriou: The communists made speeches.  They loved to go off about
how they had put the first man in space, and how they had brought
tractors and steel factories to this backwards, feudal country, and
how everyone was guaranteed an education, and health care, and
retirement, and how wonderful communism was.  And the fascists loved
to talk about their Zeppelin airships, and their autobahns, and how
they had pulled Germany out of a worldwide recession, and how they
were rebuilding their Reich and how wonderful fascism was.  And it's
all true, but at some point you step back and see some kind of
objective truth.  Every one of these great societies was run by some
screwball system based on the most viscious traits of mankind, and
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Congressman Richard Ecks honked his horn and zoomed around the slower
car, passing it on the right.  His radio and TV show had been on the
air longer than he had been in Congress, and the harried commute from
his office on Capital Hill to his studio in Fairfax had become a daily
ritual.  He pulled into his reserved parking spot outside the studio
and hustled inside, skipping the elevator and instead jogging up three
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"What did I miss?" he gasped as he reached the top.

His producer met him with a blank stare.
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EVERYTHING WRONG WITH CAPITALISM EXCEPT THE CHRISTIAN CASE AGAINST IT
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ritual.

[ Today he had landed the biggest scoop of his career.  The liberal
[ space captain had agreed to appear on the show and Ecks, who had heard
[ his earlier interview, was determined to rebut him.

He pulled into his reserved parking spot outside the studio and
hustled inside, skipping the elevator and instead jogging up three
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"Nothing, Rich.  We're still on with the space captain at nine."
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"Nothing.  We're still on with the space captain at nine."
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Ecks: Well, that's what they are!  That's exactly what they are!  We
reward people who work, not a bunch of lazy bums!
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Ecks: Well, that's a hobby.
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Ecks: A hobby.  Something you do in your spare time.  A job is what
you do to put food on the table.

Mercuriou: Let me get this straight.  A job is whatever you do that
makes money, and everything else is a hobby?

Ecks: We have to work in order to eat, Captain.  We have to work to
have houses, cars, clothes, computers, all of it.
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Ecks: Well, if his soup kitchen can solicit enough donations to
provide for him and his employees, then I'd call it 'work'!
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Mercuriou: And this is capitalism?  Soliciting donations?
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Mercuriou: No, now just twisting the words around.  Capitalism is a
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"Get the hell out of the left lane!"
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car on the right.  His talk radio/TV show had been on the air longer
than he had been in Congress, and his harried commute from Capital
Hill to his studio in Fairfax had become a daily ritual.

Today he had landed the biggest scoop of his career.  The liberal
space captain had agreed to appear on the show and Ecks, who had heard
his earlier interview, was determined to rebut him.
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hustled inside, skipping the elevator and instead jogged up three
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"Nothing.  We're still on with the space captain at 9."
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leisure time and disposible income.  Yet our opponents slam capitalism
at every turn because they can't stand the idea of people working hard
and getting rewarded for that work.  And now this thief comes along,
this criminal who has taken advantage of our society, stolen from our
businesses and our government, lied, cheated; he comes along with the
nerve to blame capitalism for what?  For letting him take advantage of
it?  For giving him the opportunity to pull of one of the greatest con
jobs in history - the 'Republic of Mars'?

Let me ask you something, _Captain_ - how do you justify this theft?
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I was just wielding a little Executive power.
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Mercuriou: You want to talk about my theft, you do it full screen.
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Ecks: Alright, Mercuriou, I'll debate.  Capitalism may not be perfect,
and this society may not be perfect, but what sets us apart from
communism and fascism is our commitment to freedom.
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Mercuriou: Let's just cut right to the chase [CA] and shortcut this
debate.  'Work' is a propaganda term that means 'making money', right?
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reward as someone running a restaurant?  If I write a book and put it
up on the Internet for free, is that 'work'?  Where's my reward?
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Mercuriou: No, sir, you're just twisting the words around.  Capitalism
is a restaurant that refuses to serve people unless they pay;
capitalists do not solicit donations.
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