Slashdot Mirror

http://www.house.gov/boucher/ is his web site
and Ninthnet@mail.house.gov is his email address.

http://www.house.gov/boucher/ is his web site
and Ninthnet@mail.house.gov is his email address.

Check out the source for http://xml.house.gov/Members/mbr107.xml and then the corresponding schema: http://xml.house.gov/Members/member-schema.xml

Check out the source for http://xml.house.gov/Members/mbr107.xml and then the corresponding schema: http://xml.house.gov/Members/member-schema.xml

From the cited page...

Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, these DTDs are not subject to copyright protection and are in the public domain.
...
These DTDs can be redistributed and/or modified freely provided that any derivative works bear some notice that they are derived from it, and any modified versions bear some notice that they have been modified.

Sorry, cupcakes, that's not how the public domain works. If you release it into the public domain, you no longer have *any* control whatsoever upon the modification, reuse, or redistribution of the work. The required notice clause listed above in invalid.

Cite, cite (#3), cite.

Kuroth

It's because of the XSL style sheet they use. You can find it at http://xml.house.gov/Members/member-sorter-vb.xsl. (Use view source to see the actual XSLT). Notice that they use VBScript!

Going to http://xml.house.gov/Members/mbr107.xml renders a perfectly viewable directory of representatives in Internet Explorer, but Mozilla dumps it all as raw text in one giant paragraph. What gives?!?

• House of Representatives,
• Senate
• Congressional

I'd like to get www.heroinoverdose.com and direct it to Alice in Chain's Web Page.
While I'm at it, I could also get www.ihaveaholeinmyhead.com and point it to a random Nirvana web page.
Or I could get www.iamnotakidnapper.com and point it to US Rep. Gary Condit's page.
Or www.softwarecrash.com and point it to M$'s page.

Certainly, some of these examples are a bit over the top in terms of appropriateness. But, that's the point. Where do you draw the line between an "appropriate" redirect and an "inappropriate" one? Who is to say what is appropriate and what isn't? Since everyone here seems to have such faith in the US court system (although I'd respectfully disagree with you about that opinion), you wouldn't want to leave it up to the courts. The easiest, and probably the best, method of dealing with it is to ban all such redirects as 2600's. Okay, it was hysterically funny and everyone in my office (even non-techies!) laughed. Definately, Ford handled this completely wrong. But, it was inappropriate and although nowhere near as offensive as some of my examples, why not just nip the problem in the bud?

I'm kind of surprised this wasn't posted before (at least that I could find), but you can find Rep. Berman's comments here.

Nah, Bush II would just send in the Marines for an extraction.
(That is, if the alledged DoS'er worked for the RIAA. He probably wouldn't bother for some anti WTO protester.)

exactly how is the above post a troll? Looks to me like an on-topic parody of the Senator's press release.

http://www.house.gov/berman/

Let's /. his ass into next week!

I wonder if Rep. Berman has a website? If yes, you know what to do.

No, don't write a letter. By the time the charred remains of your "de-anthraxed" letters arrive at your senators' or rep's offices, it will be too late.

Everything going to their offices is fried with xrays, microwaves, uber-secret virus killing death rays, and so on. That takes time and actually chars some of the material that finally gets through.

Check for your senators' electronic contact info here.
Get a fax number if there is no email or web form to use.

Write to your House represenatative here.

There are no sites more deserving of a slashdot effect than those two, especially at a time like this.

P.S. While you're at it, write intelligently against things like CBDTPA, outrageous "copyright protection" schemes, etc. Learn more about the issues at EFF.

Since businesses run this country anyways this is probably inevitable, but it would really hurt the consumer in the long run. A penny isn't much by itself, but over a lifetime that is a huge loss...

Now that I've vented, can someone please explain to me how retroactive unspecified charges can be applied? If the IRS were to say, "We're going to tax you next year, but we're not going to decide how much those taxes are going to be for a couple of years and then you'll have to pony up the dough," I would think someone would take them to court and manage to get the charges wiped.

This (retroactive taxation) has already occurred in the USA. It was done in 1993 under the Clinton administration .

Heck, I still havnt seen a universal argeement on what 'militia' refers to in these times in that right to bear arms amendment, so its not even like it _can_ be followed to the letter sometimes, either.

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

Almost the same, but not quite. Information regarding Declarations of War

Last actual "Official Declaration of War" was June 5, 1942, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria.
DS was a "Congressionally Authorized Military Engagement", like Vietnam.

This is also an excellent time for the US-based portion of our community to follow up with our congressional representatives on this issue. Remember, both the House and the Senate place very little stock in email. If you want to get their attention, use either snail-mail or fax, as detailed above. Snail-mail only costs about $1, fax is even cheaper.

1. Go here and get your ZIP+4 code.
2. Go here and identify your Congressperson.
3. When you click on the "Contact My Representative" button, you will be taken to a form. Ignore it. Instead, click on the link for your Representative and go to their homepage. Hopefully, they will have contact information someplace where you can find it. Copy it into your favorite word-processor.
4. Go here and identify your Senators. Again, we hope that they make it easy to find their contact information.
5. If you are thinking ahead, save three "empty" letters, addressed to each of the above. This will save time the next time you need to write.
6. Use your word processor to write an essay explaining your position. Be verbose. Copy this into each of the three letters you prepared above.
7. If you found any fax numbers (and your computer can print-to-fax!) send copies of your letter that way. Otherwise, print it out and send it by regular mail.

1. What problem would new OMB policies solve?
2. How well would they solve the problem?
3. What new problems would they add?
4. What are the economic and social costs?
5. Given the above, is it worth the cost?

Let's not give Verisign a hard time - they're just trying to make a buck by filling a need that is currently out there. If you really have a problem with this, you should focus on the politics that allow wire tapping in the first place and then consider taking an active role in government by contacting your Senator or Representative.

Actually the forth one is obviously in the US declaration of Independence.

The Third copmes from the US Consitituion Article I Section 8 Clauses: 1, 3, 11

The Seccond from the US constitution again Article I Section 8 Clauses: 11-16

The First also comes from the same source Article I Section 8 Clauses: 5,6, and possibly 2

• Gang0x01
• Gang0x02
• Gang0x03
• Gang0x04
• Gang0x05
• Gang0x06.

I'd hate to think such innovations are right around the corner, only to find they haven't been approved.

there have been a number of deaths (actually, usually at least one every summer)

I don't know.. according to the report on the congressman's page, there has only been one death ever in NJ, and the victim was medically predisposed. Now I think that's only brain injuries, but this page doesn't list much in NJ either, and most of it is due to people not using the safety bar.

Check your facts before you pass on anecdotes as truth.

According to Markey's page, there have been 57 known cases of this type of injury. Only 57 cases, ever! Millions of people go to theme parks every year! Has the whole world gone crazy, when congressmen are spending their budgets investigating a one in a million occurrence while ignoring the continual erosion of our civil liberties? It's my right to go on a roller coaster and kill my brain any damn way I want to!

Just another example of what big government causes.. useless legislation, inquiries into problems that don't exist. Your tax dollars at work! Welcome to the New USA, designed to protect yourself from yourself. I'm ashamed to say this buffoon is from my state, Massachusetts. I'll also mention that not a single injury of this type has actually happened in Mass - I guess he's just trying to prevent the one or two injuries that MIGHT happen this season.

It just makes me angry when people focus on extremely rare, freak problems.. like people making such a fuss about school shootings, or shark attacks last summer. Statistically speaking, these things simply do not happen! Why don't we focus on a real problem?

In a related story by CNN (near the bottom) Rep. Stearns of Florida has introduced a privacy bill in the House which, in my opinion, is quite nasty. Here's what he has to say about it on his own site:

"From these hearings, we learned that we must strike a balance in protecting personal information without unduly interfering with the free flow of consumer information that strengthens our economy and benefits the consumer."

I agree, this probably won't pass...

Here's Nick Lampson's homepage.

Go here and find out who your House Representative is (if you don't already know) and write him/her! This is the first time in a long, long time that I have seen a really good-intentioned bill come out of Congress. For once they are doing something for the people. Hell, they even say:

The United States captured the imagination of the peoples of the world and inspired a generation of young people to enter careers in science and engineering when it successfully landed humans on the surface of the Moon in the years 1969 through 1972.

This one is truly by the people and for the people. Don't let this one perish from this Earth. (couldn't resist, sue me ;)

Write your Reps by postal mail, now!

Hargun

Well,

According to Rosen, the RIAA exists to protect the rights of the artists and to ensure that they are fairly compensated for their work. They aren't out to make money for themselves. They are just protecting the starving artists and making sure they get their money.

Right. If that were truly the case, you would see a little more support here than the outright dismissal in her quote.

Compulsory licensing works. It has for years in the radio, TV, and film industries. There's a flat royalty fee that radio stations pay to BMI and/or ASCAP to play music in public. This money (minus "administrative fees") goes to the artists directly as royalty checks.

This is exactly the kind of model needed for online distribution of music. Build it into my ISP monthly bill and I'll gladly pay up to $5.00 per onth to legally download/upload all the music I want. Send that money to the artists who deserve it and I will be completely happy with the arrangement.

What "poor Hilary" is worried about is the fact that her organization will be rendered redundant. Well, maybe if they hadn't acted like such greedy, self-important bastards they wouldn't be in this position now. They were in the absolute best position to lead an effort like this, but they blew it. Now somebody else comes along with a perfectly reasonable idea and they're scared to death.

And I don't care if it's Verizon and Kazaa leading the initiative. Eventually, it will get regulated and firm rules will be established. Sure, there's going to be some corruption (come on, it's money after all) but it won't be on the grand scale we're facing right now.

Reading each of the proposed laws listed, I was able to find a couple of paragraphs to support everything the original poster mentioned.

If that's the case, then I'm sure you'd have no problem providing links to such text in question on the House or Thomas-LOC websites?

I look forward to seeing it, since I don't think you can. I've read the text of the bills in question, back through the 103rd Congress, and saw no such content as you describe. Yes, riders routinely get attached to bills -- but that happens on the floor, not in committee. This year's HR 4239, for example, has been referred to the Ways and Means Committee (and hasn't even been considered by it yet!); the previous Congress' HR 4239 was referred to the House Subcommittee on Health and Environment and died there; and so on.

It is fortuitous that we have an astute reader like b.foster among us who will read the many pages of obfuscation in the laws going through Congress and distill the things that interest the tech community. Your time would better be spent writing your congressman than posting misinformed replies on Slashdot.

I smell sock puppet.

They don't, which is why Googling on H.R. numbers isn't the most effective way of searching this stuff.

Take the first one, for example: HR 4239, which the parent of this subthread claims "makes it a felony to distribute any kind of sexually explicit material to a user who does not register with a government-sanctioned age verification service (like AdultCheck)." You Googled and found that HR 4239 appeared to be a bill "To revise the banking and bankruptcy insolvency laws with respect to the termination and netting of financial contracts." In actuality, what you found was HR4239 from the 105th Congress (1997-1998). Using the House of Representatives database, one learns that:

- In the 104th Congress (1995-1996), HR4239 was a bill "To provide for the licensing of commercial space reentry vehicles and reentry sites, and for other purposes."

- In the 106th Congress (1999-2000), HR4239 was a bill "To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to stabilize indirect graduate medical education payments."

- And in the 107th Congress (2001-2002), HR4239 is a bill "To extend the temporary suspension of duty on (unbelievably long chemical compound name omitted)."

Still unanswered, of course, is the question of what the original poster was talking about in his/her claims about HR4239, or indeed any of the four bills mentioned. I checked all four HR numbers back through the 103rd Congress, and found nothing like anything he/she listed.

The bogus refs give the impression that this person chooses to persuade through misinformation. The spoilers in the .sig don't suggest a very thoughtful person either. Perhaps the original poster will clear this up?

Umm, either I am completely mistaken, or this is a bunch of FUD. I did google searches on each of these bills, and this is what I found:

HR 4239 To revise the banking and bankruptcy insolvency
laws with respect to the termination and netting of financial contracts

HR 4551 : To repeal the 1993 increase in tax on Social Security benefits and to develop and apply a Consumer Price Index that accurately reflects the cost-of-living for older Americans who receive Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act.

HR 4608To designate the United States courthouse located at 220 West Depot Street in Greeneville, Tennessee, as the "James H. Quillen United States Courthouse".To designate the United States courthouse located at 220 West Depot Street in Greeneville, Tennessee, as the "James H. Quillen United States Courthouse".

HR 4277: the "Quality Health-care Coalition Act of 1998"

Like I say, I may be mistaken, maybe they don't use unique ID's for the bill numbers, but my skeptic alert went off when I read this post that contained zero links to any reputable site.

Umm, either I am completely mistaken, or this is a bunch of FUD. I did google searches on each of these bills, and this is what I found:

HR 4239 To revise the banking and bankruptcy insolvency
laws with respect to the termination and netting of financial contracts

HR 4551 : To repeal the 1993 increase in tax on Social Security benefits and to develop and apply a Consumer Price Index that accurately reflects the cost-of-living for older Americans who receive Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act.

HR 4608To designate the United States courthouse located at 220 West Depot Street in Greeneville, Tennessee, as the "James H. Quillen United States Courthouse".To designate the United States courthouse located at 220 West Depot Street in Greeneville, Tennessee, as the "James H. Quillen United States Courthouse".

HR 4277: the "Quality Health-care Coalition Act of 1998"

Like I say, I may be mistaken, maybe they don't use unique ID's for the bill numbers, but my skeptic alert went off when I read this post that contained zero links to any reputable site.

a long-awaited privacy bill Wednesday that would allow U.S. businesses to share information about customers

Would this qualify as an oxymoron? Exactly how does releasing my private information qualify as privacy? Have these people ever opened a dictionary? Mr. & Mrs. Public would be up in arms if then knew they leaders were voting to allow their credit card companies access to their medical records. If you are sick isn't there a good chance you may miss a payment? Further, if you have a genetic pre-disposition to a disease, regardless of whether you have it, your employer should know, shouldn't they?

A group of business leaders from high-tech firms said the bill struck the right balance between consumers and businesses

A "group of business leaders". Would this be the same group being paid to collate and distribute this data? Or perhaps, the people that want the data? In either case, at least they are honest enough to admit the public is either in the dark or against it. [Okay, that is my spin... ]

I'll predict a much greater level of Internet usage with these privacy policies in place," Boucher said.
Amazing is that as a republican, who should be for more local government and smaller federal government, we have instead the rider that states this will override more restrictive local laws. Even more amusing (frightening?) is his biography which lists him as "a leading architect of federal policy for the Internet." I am really pressed to put some type of sarcasm here, but nothing I could say would be more foolish than his statement.

I know I make this pitch every time one of these things get started, but contact your representatives.
House of Representatives
Senators

And please remember: Be concise, polite, and on paper (fax may even be better as it is not double processed through the mail). In addition, CC the letter to your local newspaper's letter to the editor and you may as well try their email address. (But remember the study done last year, most representatives do not read emails)

When Rep Boucher's bill gets close to Congress, I'll actually send a letter, on paper, to my U.S. House representative indicating that this little grass root voter wholeheartedly supports Boucher's legislation and cares very much about this issue.

I suggest you do the same. People that care enough to write a coherent letter get counted. However, it doesn't work quite like Slashdot, though. You won't get modded up to +5 Funny for sprinkling baby powder on the letter.

I did a brief google search and I did not find any evidence that the movie ratings are reinforced by laws. Can anyone show me that the policy of not letting minors into R rated movies is anything but a self inforced policy? I certainly can't and would rally like some clarification on this.

Additionally, since my subission of this was rejected, let me say that the ramifications of this videogames aren't free speech has already spread to the national level.

See what the congressman we so applaud has to say about your issue.

See what the congressman we so applaud has to say about your issue.

why can't we certify politicians?

Some of them are certainly certifiable...

are there any elected officials who are not members of either the Democratic or Republican parties?

Duh. Of course there are.
One solitary House member. One Solitary Senate member.

I guess I just feel the need to feed your karma (or else this provides an excellent diversion from actual work).

I'm wondering exactly how it is that you feel the MS cesspool, to use our term for it, was collected if not for favorable tax laws allowing its collection under the theory that it was better for the economy to allow MS to "make the pie higher," as the only President we have says. We may call MS a person in contemplation of law, but that "person" is largely defined by what the IRS will allow it to get away with.

I truly don't have the time to debate this further, for reality intrudes. Take care, and drink a toast to the debt ceiling when Congress increases it this spring.

Perhaps the secret "catastrophe" against which the legendary "Catastrophe Hedging Program 2.5" is "hedging" is the sudden cessation of cruel and unusual punishment as the ultimate power of the United States. How one hedges against such "catastrophic" losses is interesting to contemplate. Does, for example, Balmer have a pop-up web-cam viewer with CHP2.5 that gives him instant views of the prison "turf" of the most vicious and infectious prison gangs money can buy -- just to ensure they are "doing their job" for the Federal Reserve, IRS and M$?

I make no distinction between photo red light and murder. It KILLS people, but that's ok, because the major needs a new lemo.

... if you get an arizona photo radar ticket in the mail, it will include a paper for you to sign & a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) for you to return it in, acknowledging that you received the ticket. If you don't return the acknowledgment, you don't have to appear at court, and they can't do jack, unless they want to serve the ticket in another (more expensive) manner. Of course, they'll bill you for the personal service, but I don't believe they do that (send out sherriff to serve photoradar tickets) all too often..

http://freedom.house.gov/auto/cases/azappeal.asp - arizona appeals court on the issue
http://www.photobuster.com/beatem2.htm

This is an important pubic notice. Putting mobile phones in your front pockets or in your Levi's "Mobile Pants" can give you testicular cancer.

Using the 3G Network will give you cancer 3x faster than current phones. It's also 3x more likely that you will have a child that looks like Bill Gates of Ozzie Osbourne.

Finally, this bill also protect you from talking dirty or sending dirty messages over your cell phone. Please men, talk dirty on the phone, and use those testicles while you still have them!

http://www.house.gov/writerep/ - A form to find out who your representatives are.

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.htm - U.S. Representatives by State

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html - Representative's Websites

http://www.house.gov/writerep/ - A form to find out who your representatives are.

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.htm - U.S. Representatives by State

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html - Representative's Websites

http://www.house.gov/writerep/ - A form to find out who your representatives are.

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.htm - U.S. Representatives by State

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html - Representative's Websites

Upon calling Paul Wellstone's local office, I told the person working the phone how i was opposed to any legislation mandating draconian DRM solutions and made several valid points. I made a point to inform that I was planning on voting in my first election in 2002 and that my opinions on these issues helped form many of my peer's opinions. Tell some high school kids that this will make burning CDs or making copies of free over-the-air TV programs and they'll get interested real fast.

They said they would have the Senator write me back with a response as soon as possible, but being a Senator, he was a very busy man. Ok, I thought, I'm a reasonable man, what's a few weeks. I don't mind waiting a month or two? I took the form letters from The EFF and tailored them to my needs. I sent compies of this e-mail to recently-elected Senator Dayton (D-MN), and my Congressman, Representative Martin Sabo (D-MN).

Well my e-mail and phone campaign was way back in September and just now have I received a response from one of my elected officials. What follows is an e-mail I just received on April 29th from Senator Wellstone, seven months after my inquiries:

Dear Mr. ********:

Thank you for contacting me regarding S.2048, the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act, also known as the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act.

This bill was introduced in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and may be referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

While I am not a member of either of those committees, I appreciate having the benefit of your views. I also want to assure you that I will keep your views on digital creative works in mind should legislation on this issue reach the Senate floor.

Legislation should strive to protect the rights of creators and ensure that consumers enjoy a vast selection of new and different products. This requires a careful balance among the rights and interests of consumers, creators and innovators.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope that you will continue to let me know about matters of interest to you.

Sincerely,
Paul David Wellstone
United States Senator

I liked the part where I he didn't really answer my question... It seems you are correct in thinking Capitol Hill is hell bent on passing legislation. I don't think ANY legislation is a good thing, but I feel that they [capitol hill] see us [letter-writing geeks] as meddlers who refuse to offer a solution. Who says there needs to be a solution? Has anyone had any other luck with their representatives?