That's It! These Contributors Are Line Noise!

That's It! These Contributors Are Line Noise!

Those of you computer geeks who are in the fossil category with me may recall the saying:

It has been observed that a TECO command sequence more closely resembles transmission line noise than readable text.

The rest of you have no idea what TECO is--and many of may have no idea what "transmission line noise" is. (Ah, you haven't lived until you've hacked into the ARPAnet with a teletype machine!)

Well, it turns that this October 6, 2008 CBS News story has discovered the modern living variant of this:

CBS News has learned that two donors to the Obama campaign that gave a total of $7,722 appear to have made their contributions under fake names that look like they were written by a mouse running across a keyboard: Dahsudhu Hdusahfd of Df, Hawaii with the following employer CZXVC/ZXVZXV and Uadhshgu Hduadh listed as living in Dhff, Florida listed their employer as DASADA/SAFASF.

CBS News did not find any records of these last names, towns or employers anywhere else. Newsweek reported two questionable Obama donors over the weekend named “Doodad Pro” and “Good Will”.

Contributions from the two donors Hdusahfd and Hduadh were made on the same day starting on July 16, 2008. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show the campaign began refunding the donations as early as August 6, 2008.

Despite numerous refunds from the Obama campaign, Hdusahfd still has a record of giving a total of $7500 to Obama which is well over the legal limit for the primary and general election of $4600. Hduadh gave $14,200 but the Obama campaign returned all but $222.00.

That's it! These bogus contributions are line noise! Or bad mouse drivers! Or electrical storms confusing the keyboard cables!