The time-traveling nature of this article honestly hindered my ability to read it. Boo bad editing.

I think this is the fastest an event has ever made it to Slashdot.

It's worth noting that the features that were revoked *ARE* connected to the Live service. You need a Live connection to install a game to the hard drive, to use the media extender, or to check your Netflix queue. If you don't believe me, please unplug your xbox from your network and try to use these features. They haven't removed any functionality from your console that you had when your ethernet cable was unplugged. Whether or not those features should be gated on being connected to Xbox Live is a totally different discussion. However, after the 'loss of these unrelated features' argument has been dissolved, the overall case is sincerely weakened. Corrupted save games are a valid concern, as are unrefunded subscriptions (though it's possible that TOU handle the latter with ease).

I might argue that questions about chronologically local political issues ARE inappropriate to the purpose of the website.

There is no way to eliminate scandals, and discussing it is not productive in the least - Power corrupts, and corruption breeds scandal like a bunch of rabbits left in the pen during vacation. This is not an issue that affects the way our federal government interacts with the people, and thus I would say that there's nor reason to discuss it on a forum dedicated to this topic.