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I've seen some bad ideas that actually got through legislature and implemented, so I wouldn't hold your breath. Write to your legislators, and make your opinion known. Contact your congressman and make it known he will lose your vote if he supports this legislation.

...get in touch (preferably in writing) with your local Congresscritter if you're in the US:
Contacting the Congress
Write your House Rep
Senators of the 110th Congress
How to Contact US Senators

In early 2006, questions raised by other nuclear engineering professors about this work resulted in the head of Purdue's nuclear engineering department conducting an informal investigation about the independent verification publication. That inquiry resulted in one of the students saying that he had nothing to do with the research in the article he supposedly co-authored, and the second student refusing to state who had written the final article, saying it would jeopardize the "confirmatory" nature of the research. In March 2006, allegations of misconduct became public in Nature magazine. These included claims that Dr. Taleyarkhan had refused to share data; removed critical equipment from the laboratory, thereby hampering efforts to replicate his work; blocked publication of negative results by colleagues at Purdue; and manipulated the development and publication of papers asserted to be "independent" verification of his work by papers that were, in fact, from members of his laboratory staff. Subsequently, a written allegationi of fraudulent data was received.

I created a music player that plays zip files of my music encrypted with the names of prominent Congresswhores, such as 'Lamar Smith'. Obviously, he's disseminating my decryption keys unlawfully. There are over five infringing keys just on his home page, as well as sneaky attempts at avoiding detection by placing the key in images, and posting half of it preceeded by 'Congressman'.

The DMCA is obviously on my side, and I will be sending takedown notices to quite a few websites. The civil suit of 150,000 bucks per infringment won't be bad either - I can use it to lobby Congress to outlaw lobbyists, or even get some canidates who represent people, rather than industry groups.

HR 2060 is, of course, the Internet Radio Equality Act. It was introduced in April by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Don Manzullo (R-IL) and would essentially reverse the CRB's decision, returning Internet radio to its previous, percentage-based fee structure that is similar to that of satellite radio. While Internet radio stations and supporting groups didn't have much time to lobby Congress when the bill was initially introduced, the deadline extension by the CRB could give groups like SaveNetRadio just enough time to, fittingly, save 'Net radio.

If Internet radio stations are important to you, we urge you to contact your Representative and let him or her know that you support the Internet Radio Equality Act.

The trick is: How do you know if you have that system or not?

We, the undersigned Members of Congress, hereby request the Electoral Assistance Division of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs to send election observers to monitor the presidential election in the United States scheduled for November 2, 2004. We are deeply concerned that the right of U.S. citizens to vote in free and fair elections is again in jeopardy. http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/tx30_johnson/ HouseMembersUnitedNationsElectionMonitor.html

The US denyed the UN election oversight. So how do I know my vote means anything?

I wrote a "short" letter about how our congress is mishandling a number of Internet issues. I highly suggest that our fellow Slashdotters do the same. =) http://www.house.gov/writerep/

If Kucinich was the only person accusing Cheney of crimes, or if there wasn't an abundance of evidence of those crimes, then it might be reasonable to ask why Kucinich was bringing it up. But since Cheney's crimes are quite obvious, the real question should be why no one else in the House has the guts to cosponsor the impeachment. Exactly how criminal does an administration have to be before anyone is willing to stand up and do something about it? Nixon was brought down by a simple political burglary, and Cheney has helped start a war of aggression that has cost over 60,000 lives

Kucinich's case is well documented. Check the case out for yourself. And even if Kucinich were bringing these charges just to increase his own popularity, if the charges are justified, who cares? The charges are substantive, and have nothing to do with Kucinich. Ad hominem arguments against Kucinich are red herrings... look at the facts!

Not that I necessarily agree with the context of your post, but here is how you can contact your reps:

• U.S. House of Representatives contact info
• U.S. Senate contact info

"The young women on the basketball team Mr. Imus insulted are over 18 and can speak for themselves. It's disconcerting to see third parties become involved and presume to speak collectively for minority groups. It is precisely this collectivist mindset that is at the heart of racism."

From http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst041607.ht m

...the nation remains incredibly sensitive about matters of race, despite the outward progress of the last 40 years. A nation that once prided itself on a sense of rugged individualism has become uncomfortably obsessed with racial group identities.

...It's disconcerting to see third parties become involved and presume to speak collectively for minority groups. It is precisely this collectivist mindset that is at the heart of racism.

...government as an institution is particularly ill suited to combating bigotry in our society. Bigotry at its essence is a sin of the heart, and we can't change people's hearts by passing more laws and regulations.

...Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist.

The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.

More importantly, in a free society every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Rather than looking to government to correct our sins, we should understand that racism will endure until we stop thinking in terms of groups and begin thinking in terms of individual liberty.

I am calling my represenative tomorrow and complaining big time! There is no need for the states to loose protection.

I encourage everyone to go to: http://www.house.gov/, locate your rep, and leave a voice mail! Imagine what will happen when users download industry stuff to corporate computers. I know Texas A&M University has already had it share of security holes recently, and do not need anymore! Do companies and universities really want more? Just imagine users and students installing all sorts of stuff on their computers, and all the holes it will bring. Come on now, we have to speak up and write, call, and communicate! :) :)

This frustrates me to no end!

You're an utter bastard, but the tactics would actually accomplish something

Once blood begins to spill, bastardry is required to win. If you cannot even begin to fathom the depths to which your enemies will sink, you end up making potentially disastrous mistakes like banning all liquids from flights except for baby bottles, despite the fact that the lunatics will happily take their infant baby to their "glorious" death.

Recognizing step 0 ahead of time was the only easy way out.

The only goals of the Iraq war are to increase oil prices and profit DOD contractors.

And with the latest oil distribution law drafted by Americans and handed to the Iraqi government for voting that would basically hand over the oil to foreign interests on a silver platter, it's clear that we did it for the oil too (of course, despite the protests of the Republicans who continue to insist that we didn't do it to get the oil, according to the administration from the very beginning, Iraqi oil would pay for this). The recent discovery of oil in the western deserts there may have pretty much sealed Iraq's fate to be split three ways so that the major groups (Kurds, Sunni, and Shia) can have their own country (or at least a state within a federation) and oil.

The senseless and horrific killings last week on the campus of Virginia Tech University reinforced an uneasy feeling many Americans experienced after September 11th: namely, that government cannot protect us. No matter how many laws we pass, no matter how many police or federal agents we put on the streets, a determined individual or group still can cause great harm. Perhaps the only good that can come from these terrible killings is a reinforced understanding that we as individuals are responsible for our safety and the safety of our families.

Although Virginia does allow individuals to carry concealed weapons if they first obtain a permit, college campuses within the state are specifically exempted. Virginia Tech, like all Virginia colleges, is therefore a gun-free zone, at least for private individuals. And as we witnessed, it didn't matter how many guns the police had. Only private individuals on the scene could have prevented or lessened this tragedy. Prohibiting guns on campus made the Virginia Tech students less safe, not more.

The Virginia Tech tragedy may not lead directly to more gun control, but I fear it will lead to more people control. Thanks to our media and many government officials, Americans have become conditioned to view the state as our protector and the solution to every problem. Whenever something terrible happens, especially when it becomes a national news story, people reflexively demand that government do something. This impulse almost always leads to bad laws and the loss of liberty. It is completely at odds with the best American traditions of self-reliance and rugged individualism.

Do we really want to live in a world of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras, and metal detectors? Do we really believe government can provide total security? Do we want to involuntarily commit every disaffected, disturbed, or alienated person who fantasizes about violence? Or can we accept that liberty is more important than the illusion of state-provided security?

To read more visit here:
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst042307.ht m
"Security and Liberty" by US Congressman Ron Paul

How did you get from third world countries where raping children and forcing them to shoot each other was an everyday occurrence, to America where I can still send my kids to school without body armor and its war on Iraq?

Well, while we're off topic to push whatever ideological agenda...

Fact: This is a war, and failure to recognize and admit this is the first step to losing it.

No wonder we're not doing so hot. This was Bush's walk in the park, not the Democrats' or whoever else you're going to blame for the course Bush held.

102. Conditions for patentability; novelty
(a) Novelty; Prior Art.—A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained if—
(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use or on sale—
(A) more than one year before the effective filing date of the claimed invention; or
(B) one year or less before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, other than through disclosures made by the inventor or a joint inventor or by others who obtained the subject matter disclosed directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor;

With the exception of the inventor publishing something and then filing for his patent in less than one year from publishing (e.g., publishes a paper with the IEEE), the public domain material would qualify as prior art under (a) (1).

Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA), a member of the Ways and Means committee and chair of its Health subcommittee, is a non-theist (which includes agnostics, etc.).

Millions in development costs? You seem to think that somehow that is a lot of money. Please, let me correct you on where the real costs for drug companies are.

Think of the implications of the 100 plus million spent in lobbyists to get new bills passed. http://skeptically.org/polrec/id14.html

Or the nearly 5 Billion spent in advertising, which averages to an average TV Viewer sitting through 30 hours of drug ads per year.http://www.wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1117765

While profits aren't a dirty word, your millions of dollars in development costs pales to the 8 billion plus *increase* in profits the pharmaceutical companies had in only 6 months since January 1, 2006, http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/2006091911562 3-70677.pdf (PDF Warning!)

?? You're applying 1945-period behavior to the modern world? Hahahahaa. Countries were economically naive then compared to now. Economies are more complex now, countries are more sophisticated. If we nuke Muslim countries I guarantee they won't be buying our Disney T-shirts or selling us cheap oil unless we seize it of course. Instead, they'll shift to deals with countries not hostile to Muslims. Russia, China come to mind. How naive warhawk ideologues are. John Bolton, is that YOU on Slashdot? I always figured you for an AOL type, not a Linux guy, Mr. B.

You forget one of your complexities: Multinational corporations. You can't get away from them. Boycott if you will, you will still be dealing with them. The jackasses that wanted to boycott French companies couldn't get away from them.

3. Was localized and while levels increased, nothing really came out of it except for those directly involved in the blast or recovery.
"Nothing really came out of it". What planet are you from? You trivialize atrocity? One only has to read any Japanese studies to refute your denials: "Estimated Relative Risks of Cancers at 1 Gray (1950-85); Mental Retardation of In Utero Exposed Children; Genetic Studies of the Children of A-bomb Survivors (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) etc, ad nauseum. The effects on the people and the land were large and lasting. Nobody denies that except maybe farmers in the Ozarks, and Condi Rice, who isn't nappy-headed no matter what Don Imus says.

Uh, sparky, quote me fully. I said "localized" in response to your "we're all going to glow" type of statement. Second, I have lived in Japan for 6 years (half of that working for multinational corporations). I speak the language fluently. I am very aware of Japanese attitudes about the bombs. Ask the Chinese, Koreans, Philipino, Burmese, and Pacific Islanders about atrocities. Ours was aimed at stopping them.

How many people in Iowa, Seattle, Phoenix, Seoul, Beijing, Chernyobl, Moscow, Cape Town, etc. had Nagasaki or Hiroshima related illnesses after the bombies. I'm not minimizing anything the Japanese suffered, just saying, it was local to them. Cost of war. A cost that was worth the price, we were right (as a shorter version of the word "righteous") in our action.

What are you smoking, War Hero? Oil per barrel has been up 3x since Bush's false war started. Gas prices are higher. I'm sure you're paying a lot more these days to fill the tank of your Hummer, the one with the gun rack you drive to WalMart? For numbers see: http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/rr110-2. pdf.

Sparky, one more time, check the price of a barrel now compared to last summer. It was hire then. It is not OPEC it is Exxon, Haliburton, and American politicians.

That sidesteps the fact that your original statement was oversimplified to prove your point. My example is just one of many real possibilities. You deal in oversimplified models and those go false real easily.

1. Never happened, 2. Never happened

?? You're applying 1945-period behavior to the modern world? Hahahahaa. Countries were economically naive then compared to now. Economies are more complex now, countries are more sophisticated. If we nuke Muslim countries I guarantee they won't be buying our Disney T-shirts or selling us cheap oil unless we seize it of course. Instead, they'll shift to deals with countries not hostile to Muslims. Russia, China come to mind. How naive warhawk ideologues are. John Bolton, is that YOU on Slashdot? I always figured you for an AOL type, not a Linux guy, Mr. B.

3. Was localized and while levels increased, nothing really came out of it except for those directly involved in the blast or recovery.

"Nothing really came out of it". What planet are you from? You trivialize atrocity? One only has to read any Japanese studies to refute your denials: "Estimated Relative Risks of Cancers at 1 Gray (1950-85); Mental Retardation of In Utero Exposed Children; Genetic Studies of the Children of A-bomb Survivors (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) etc, ad nauseum. The effects on the people and the land were large and lasting. Nobody denies that except maybe farmers in the Ozarks, and Condi Rice, who isn't nappy-headed no matter what Don Imus says.

Uh, sparky? Have you check the price of a barrel lately.

What are you smoking, War Hero? Oil per barrel has been up 3x since Bush's false war started. Gas prices are higher. I'm sure you're paying a lot more these days to fill the tank of your Hummer, the one with the gun rack you drive to WalMart? For numbers see: http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/rr110-2. pdf.

You trivialize the factors in price of gasoline, maybe you can't handle complicated issues so you pick an easier model to spout off. That doesn't work with complex global issues. Better to settle for 'might makes right', eh? The founding fathers would be defecating corncobs right about now, I figure, if they saw FOX news and its blind followers.

I just want to point everyone to the pertinent laws that have been, if not broken, then definitely torn.

United States Code 18 (18 U.S.C) - Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Part I - Crimes. Chapter 73 - Obstruction of Justice.

Specifically, Section 1505 for starters.

Whoever corruptly ...obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress--

Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.

So let's cut the crap and talk shop. Look at this document (PDF).

First off, you'll notice how deep Jack Abramoff was involved (and this was in 2001, before 9/11). Secondly, using taxpayer's resources for partisan purposes? Tut tut tut. Thirdly, look at the bottom of the first page. Send all replies to a third-party email address. And that's just on page one. It's on page two that we get to the admission that third-party email should be used "especially since there could be lawsuits, etc." because Jack Abramoff accidentally sent a message that was "not supposed to go into the [White House] system."

We all know that the evidence is mounting up for the biggest Obstruction of Justice case this nation has ever seen. The Conservatives are just making it worse for themselves.

Conservative apologists: You can say what you want, but the Law isn't altered by sound-bites and insults. And the more you sound like petty crooks (blaming the legal system, pleading not guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence, grandstanding for your friends), the more votes you lose in 2008.

You know what? Ignore this advice. Make it harder on yourselves. It's not as though you need anyone to show you how, you've been doing such a bang-up job of it so far.

You know what makes it funny?! It was because of Enron, Kenneth Lay, and all those Bush friends in Big Business, that these laws were toughened up. The magic words again: Sarbanes-Oxley. The Republican Party made the rope they will use to hang themselves.

And seeing as Monica Goodling was born within two weeks of Monica Lewinsky, how's about we call this whole thing MonicaGate...?

I just dug up this info. Perhaps he's just withholding again. :-(
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1193

1. $2,400 for your share of the Iraq war (guesstimating 50 million tax payers, 1 in 6 people , 120 billion budget sent to the president at the moment)
2. $1,120 for education (56 billion / 50 million)
3. $8,400 for the department of defense (420 billion excluding war spending / 50 million)

If nothing else, it does give them a count of constituent opinion on a matter (10000 emails for, 12 against...). Likely their all handled by staff members too (as would be their paper mail). So, that said, go HERE: http://www.house.gov/writerep write your rep a brief message about "what the crap's going on in the Committee on Education and Labor?" and "please oppose this effort whenever an appropriate opportunity to do so arises."

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Here's what I wrote to my House Rep, I urge you to do the same:
--------
I am writing you today to urge you to OPPOSE the recently introduced bill "H.R. 1689: To provide support to combat illegal downloading on college and university campuses".

I'm dismayed that the House is wasting time and taxpayer money with this bill, who's real purpose is clearly the support the dying business model of much of the American entertainment industry. While the bill is ostensibly purposed to reduce computer-bandwidth costs at large universities and increase computer network security at these campuses, I believe those reasons do NOT match its real purpose. There are many high-bandwidth applications college students make use of which are NOT illegal and do NOT support educational initiatives, such as streaming internet radio, online software installers and updaters (like Steam), online video (like YouTube), and many others. I don't see any House bills introduced to top the use of *those* services to decrease band-width usage.

In addition, we should not be taking federal funds away from *real* educational initiatives to teach college students that, essentially, "stealing is bad", a concept they should have learned in kindergarten. If I had to choose between that message and a more worthwhile educational message (like real college classes, perhaps?), I'd choose the later any day.

I'd also like to take issue with item 3 in "SEC. 2. FINDINGS": "(3) Additional staff and resources are required to respond to notices of illegal downloading, costing more money." There is NO need for colleges to respond to these notices in any way, shape, or form. They are merely threatening letters designed to extort money from college students who the sender (RIAA, MPAA, etc) believes downloaded materials illegally. If the student pays a few thousand dollars, the sender won't take them to court (not that they'd win anyway, these are just fishing expeditions). A subpoena is an entirely different matter, and these notifications are NOT subpoenas.

In conclusion, please oppose H.R. 1689.

Do something about it (or at least try to)

write your representatives

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

This is bullshit. Here are the members of the House Education and Labor committee:
Committee members
Please, start to express to these people how misguided this effort is NOW before he can get a co-sponsor and take it further.
Ric Keller is a member of the Pell Grant Caucus, and as such, he will need to drastically re-write This Page if this thing goes through.

This is bullshit. Here are the members of the House Education and Labor committee:
Committee members
Please, start to express to these people how misguided this effort is NOW before he can get a co-sponsor and take it further.
Ric Keller is a member of the Pell Grant Caucus, and as such, he will need to drastically re-write This Page if this thing goes through.

Link to their explanation of the bill.

"Illegal downloading of music and movies on college campuses is harming their computer networks by consuming a huge amount of education-related bandwidth"

"There are numerous options to download music legally - online retailers such as iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody and eMusic charge varying amounts for song and album downloads."

I guess the legal music services don't use up bandwidth.

Here is the website of the Congresstoady who sponsored this bill.

http://www.house.gov/upton/press/press-04-06-05.ht ml

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI)

http://www.house.gov/upton/

http://www.house.gov/upton/press/press-04-06-05.ht ml

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI)

http://www.house.gov/upton/

Or check on how your own elected official represented you: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll445.xml

I'm proud to say my own representative Barbara Lee voted against this distraction.

• Fred Upton (R-MI)
• Ed Markey (D-MA)

This was amazingly easy. I first went to http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp to look up my zip+4 , then to http://www.house.gov/writerep/ to write my rep. I didn't even know his name, or my district, or my zip code, and I was able to find and write him in less than 5 minutes.

There is no excuse for each of you not to do the same thing. Keep it short, or they'll never read it. Here's what I wrote:

Please support HR811 so that the most precious aspect of a democracy, the integrity of the vote, is not at risk. With our current electronic voting process, there is the potential for a few corrupt individuals to completely subvert the will of the people by altering the vote, and no method to prove they didn't. If this bill becomes law, then the possibility for a paper recount to prove the validity of and maintain public confidence in the vote in electronic voting areas is restored.

H.R.811
Title: To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified permanent paper ballot under title III of such Act, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] (introduced 2/5/2007) Cosponsors (200)
Related Bills: S.559
Latest Major Action: 3/29/2007 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee Hearings Held.

I shouldn't have to point this out, but if you feel strongly about this or other issues before the house, you can
easily write your Congressman from the contact form on the House web site - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
While members of Congress may or may not read Slashdot, they or their staff do presumably read their Inbox, and I've gotten at least cursory replies (usually by snail mail) before.
I've posted the letter I just wrote below as an example, but it's probably more effective if you write your own words rather than using mine:

To the Honorable Walter B. Jones:

I just became aware of pending legislation via a number of technical industry news sites including Slashdot and Arstechnica that I feel is long overdue, H.R. 811: Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.

As a constituent of your district, and as a registered voter, the integrity and transparency of election processes deeply concerns me.

Of particular importance and interest to me are provisions which provide for voter-verifiable paper trails in elections, provisions that require random auditing to insure that paper records match electronic ones, provisions that require the software used within electronic voting machines be open to public inspection, and provisions that provide for the emergency use of paper ballots in the event of system or equipment failure.

I realize that these measures create an additional burden on the states, however, I strongly believe they are needed to restore accountability, auditability, and voter confidence lost by the widespread adoption of electronic voting machines.

I urge you to strongly consider voting for this legislation when it comes before you, and to resist amendments which weaken or eliminate the strong provisions on election integrity it contains.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Daugherty

Linky, for your convenience.

This bill does many of the things that we in the /. community have argued for for some time now including open code inspection, reliable voting systems, and yes, reliable recounts and audits. Now is the time for the /. community to act on our endless snarky comments and help to move real change forward.

The Bill's text and record are available at Thomas. While there you can peruse the list of 200 Cosponsors to see if your house rep is among them (and should be given a cookie for that) or not (and should be corrected).

If you both support the bill and are a U.S. Citizen or Resident, you can go to the U.S. House of Representatives Website at www.house.gov, and Write your rep or contact them via their website (Recommended) to urge them to support the bill or thank them for already cosponsoring it.

With time to spare you can head over to the Senate and urge your senators to back the forthcoming companion bill in the senate. Following that a stop off to contact The Executive Branch (va a aqui para Espanol) to urge signing of the bill wouldn't hurt.

If you believe in any of the things this bill does then a few minutes on the phone or sending a polite e-mail shouldn't be too much. As cynical as we all can be about the influence of money on elections a groundswell is too costly to be overrun.

This bill does many of the things that we in the /. community have argued for for some time now including open code inspection, reliable voting systems, and yes, reliable recounts and audits. Now is the time for the /. community to act on our endless snarky comments and help to move real change forward.

The Bill's text and record are available at Thomas. While there you can peruse the list of 200 Cosponsors to see if your house rep is among them (and should be given a cookie for that) or not (and should be corrected).

If you both support the bill and are a U.S. Citizen or Resident, you can go to the U.S. House of Representatives Website at www.house.gov, and Write your rep or contact them via their website (Recommended) to urge them to support the bill or thank them for already cosponsoring it.

With time to spare you can head over to the Senate and urge your senators to back the forthcoming companion bill in the senate. Following that a stop off to contact The Executive Branch (va a aqui para Espanol) to urge signing of the bill wouldn't hurt.

If you believe in any of the things this bill does then a few minutes on the phone or sending a polite e-mail shouldn't be too much. As cynical as we all can be about the influence of money on elections a groundswell is too costly to be overrun.

This bill does many of the things that we in the /. community have argued for for some time now including open code inspection, reliable voting systems, and yes, reliable recounts and audits. Now is the time for the /. community to act on our endless snarky comments and help to move real change forward.

The Bill's text and record are available at Thomas. While there you can peruse the list of 200 Cosponsors to see if your house rep is among them (and should be given a cookie for that) or not (and should be corrected).

If you both support the bill and are a U.S. Citizen or Resident, you can go to the U.S. House of Representatives Website at www.house.gov, and Write your rep or contact them via their website (Recommended) to urge them to support the bill or thank them for already cosponsoring it.

With time to spare you can head over to the Senate and urge your senators to back the forthcoming companion bill in the senate. Following that a stop off to contact The Executive Branch (va a aqui para Espanol) to urge signing of the bill wouldn't hurt.

If you believe in any of the things this bill does then a few minutes on the phone or sending a polite e-mail shouldn't be too much. As cynical as we all can be about the influence of money on elections a groundswell is too costly to be overrun.

The RIAA will step on anyone at the will of the major labels money. Please help stop the RIAA and the band of Corp. thieves.

HELP SAVE NET RADIO IN THE US..

http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2005-1/rates-te rms2005-1.pdf

SaveNetRadio.org

Help Keep Internet Radio Online

Whats Happening

On Friday March 2nd 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board announced new royalty rates for Internet Radio stations. The rates are retroactive to January of 2006.

The new rates are far higher than any industry experts expected. In fact, if they remain unchanged, bankruptcy looms for many online radio stations.

The new rates essentially levy a tax of $0.0011 per performance. Now, that doesn't sound bad does it. But consider this. Each hour, the average radio station plays 16 songs. So that's about 1.76c per hour, per listener. A station with 500 listener average would be hit with fees of $211 per day, $6,336 a month or $76,000 a year.

This amount of money is beyond the resources of all but the very wealthiest of corporations. Many of the internet radio stations are run by enthusiasts and hobbyists. These small stations are the ones bringing new music, and old favorites to you every day. Music you can't hear on corporate-owned terrestrial stations.

Could this be the day the music died?

What can you do?

If you enjoy internet radio, HEARING YOUR BAND ON INTERNET RADIO, you need to make your feelings known right now to your representatives in the Congress and Senate. Write to them and ask them to help repeal the decision of March 2nd by the Copyright Royalty Board. It only takes a couple of minutes.

SaveNetRadio.org

Congress: House.gov/writerep

Senate: Senate.gov

More background on this decision

SaveNetRadio.org

DigiMedia.org

DigiMedia.org FAQ

KurtHanson.com

Broadcastlawblog

Thank you & please help.

http://myspace.com/scottandpam

How 'bout "Dead Stop News Day"?

Meanwhile, the house committee on "intellectual property" ponders how to implement a licensing regime for ephemeral copies of recordings each time they pass through a computer's RAM.

Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to bitch about rejected stories or (in this case) ones that have been pending for a week... couldn't help it this one time.

The problem is that the Administration is stupid. It thought that it could turn back the tide on a thousand years of hatred in a few months and a few billion dollars, and thus get the oil on the cheap.

Fortunately the clock is running out on the presidency now, so it's highly unlikely we'll see the administration repeat the same mistake again

IANAL, but I was curious so I looked it up. The relevant part of the US Code is apparently here (15 USC Sec. 2302, subsection c - no idea if that will actually work for everyone, this link also has it here).

Not sure exactly how that statute would work with computers...

My local representative frequently sends out letters to the locals asking people to attend town hall meetings and asking what the local constituents want. I think the last one was a few weeks ago.

Having secret police and no accountability goes against the very grain of what the United States stands for, and what the Constitution says. Our forefathers explicitly ensured that we would have the rights necessary to overthrow our government if things got out of hand. The government exists to serve the people, not the other way around.

If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend contacting your representatives, writing to your local newspaper, and otherwise telling anyone who will hear that this is unacceptable. We cannot have the government secretly snooping around in our private information and lives. Let's kick up a stormcloud and make sure this gets changed!

I wish that people wouldn't be such leftist nidjits...

Absolutely. One of the major problems in today's society is that it is almost impossible to have a debate about modern technology, including Internet access technologies such as DSL, cable, and WiMAX, without the heavy involvement of leftist groups such as the Shining Path guerrillas of Peru, the Red Army Faction terror group in Germany, and the infamous OSI so-called "freedom fighters" of the US. Widely known for recruiting young, naive, soldiers in universities, brainwashing them into beliefs such as the moral superiority of forced redistributions of wealth, the bourgeois imperialist bankrupsy of representative democracy, and the superiority of a socialist, common ownership, share and share alike, model for the development of computer software, these groups cause immense damage to progress, which ironicly they hold up by preventing the trickle down effect, the engine of all progress, from having any realistic possibility of success.

While left wing terror groups continue to make their extreme, anti-economic, demands, politicians merely appease them and their demands. Some countries, for example, have initiated welfare state programs, guaranteeing a minimum level of living, while others have promised equal access to health care regardless of income. The state of Massachussets has gone one step better and actually forced their already over-burdened citizens to use open document formats to exchange information in a blatant attempt to pacify the OOO, the infamous breakaway faction of the OSI. In all these cases, state involvement has merely crippled the trickle down effect and made it impossible for billionaires to buy DSL connections.

Such actions have prevented progress, and as such have actually helped the leftist groups by allowing them to exploit the lack of progress as some kind of fault of crapitalism.

This quagmire of progress both being prevented by leftist groups, and the resulting lack of it helping those same groups not disappear by itself. Resources need to be devoted, and unless people are prepared to actually act, not just talk about it on Slashdot, nothing will ever get done. Apathy is not an option.

You can help by getting off your rear and writing to your congressman or senator. Tell them that leftist threats to progress is an issue that is important to you. Tell them that you appreciate the work being done by right-wing terror groups such as the Contras, Al-Qaida, the KKK, and the BSA but that unless something stronger is done to tackle leftism you will be forced to use less and less secure and intelligently designed alternatives. Explain the concerns you have about freedom, openness, and choice, and how the impedement of progress from leftist groups harms all three. Let them know that this is an issue that effects YOU directly, that YOU vote, and that your vote will be influenced, indeed dependent, on their policies on left wing terrorism.

You CAN make a difference. Don't treat voting as a right, treat it as a duty. Remember, it was thanks to ordinary people like YOU that we are now seeing such innovations as SMP in OpenBSD. Keep informed, keep your political representatives informed on how you feel. And, most importantly of all, vote.

Care to explain why accomodating for people who want to watch violence on tv should be more important than accomodating for people who want to let their children watch TV without constant surveilance?

Yeah, right near the top of this page.

Seriously, this should not be a problem. The V-chip allows both sides to have what they want: the parents can just setup the V-chip to block violent content they do not want their kids to see, and such content can be left on TV for those who do want to see it.