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BROUN'S 4-WAY TEST

I am committed to protecting the constitutional rights and pocketbooks of every American. I will apply the following four-way test to every piece of legislation that comes before the House for a vote:

1) Is it Right/Moral?
2) Is it Constitutional?
3) Is it Necessary?
4) Is it Affordable?

Ask Slashdot: Is Paul Broun fit to be:

1) A US legislator - responsible for national policy affecting Science, Space and Technology.
2) A medical professional - tasked with health care of the sick and ill.
3) An American Citizen - (ideally) part of a rational, responsible, and well-informed electorate.
4) A Christian - committed to following the teachings of Christ.
5) A Homo Sapien - the name, more or less, means "of the same wisdom/intelligence".

In the context and the language of the time, ``well-regulated militia'' simply meant one trained to the firearm and other drills of the time.

Moreover, the membership of the militia is quite a bit larger than most people believe:

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/10C13.txt

        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.
            (b) The classes of the militia are -
                (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard
            and the Naval Militia; and
                (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of
            the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the
            Naval Militia.

and just in case someone thinks there're weasel words in section 313 of title 32:

(a) To be eligible for original enlistment in the National Guard,
a person must be at least 17 years of age and under 45, or under 64
years of age and a former member of the Regular Army, Regular Navy,
Regular Air Force, or Regular Marine Corps. To be eligible for
reenlistment, a person must be under 64 years of age.
(b) To be eligible for appointment as an officer of the National
Guard, a person must -
(1) be a citizen of the United States; and
(2) be at least 18 years of age and under 64.

William

The chances of a person being killed by a terrorist attack are by far lower than the chances of dying from a traffic accident or a heart attack. Actually they are far less than the chances of an innocent person to die accidentally shot by a police officer.

Tell that to the Iraqis, who suffer bombings and assassinations daily, and for whom truck bombings in market places was a regular hazard for years.

Or maybe you can tell it to the FBI for that matter. The make regular arrests and attain convictions for plot after plot after plot. I will show a few at the end of the post.

The only reason it is rare, is the United States takes active, effective measures against it, not because there aren't people trying to conduct attacks. Frankly, your post makes as much sense as saying that statistics show so few deaths from food poisoning that it obviously isn't a problem, so we should do away with refrigeration.

40 Americans Have Joined Al Qaeda Group

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012

Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization

Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces on a charge of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based designated foreign terrorist organization. Full Story

Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center

U.S. citizen Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, pled guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland. Full Story

Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings

Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, Virginia, pled guilty to damaging property and to firearms violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in northern Virginia between October and November 2010, and to attempting to damage veterans’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery. Full Story

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 13, 2012

1.Tampa: Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa

A 25-year-old resident of Pinellas Park, Florida was charged in connection with an alleged plot to attack locations in Tampa with a vehicle bomb, assault rifle, and other explosives. Full Story

2.Baltimore: Former Army Solider Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab

A man who secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army was charged with attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, and was arrested upon his return to Maryland after traveling to Africa. Full Story

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 9, 2011

Seattle: Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack Military Processing Center

A former Los Angeles man pled guilty in connection with the June 2011 plot to attack a military installation in Seattle. Full Story

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 2, 2011

This Bill passed in the House 314-100 with 95 Republicans voting for it (with 96 voting against it). In the Senate, it passed 86-8, with 40 Republicans voting in favor of the Bill, and only 7 voting against. And, of course, President Bush, a Republican, signed it into law.

I think the most scary thing from the poll you linked is that 8% of Muslims did not agree that: Muslims living in the U.S. do not sympathize with the al Qaeda terrorist organization.

This means that 1 in 12 Muslims interviewed could believe that Muslims living in the U.S. sympathize with an organisation who openly hates western society.

No need to believe polls when you can see open activity, arrests, and court cases.

The recruiter: Anwar al-Awlaki, portrait of an American jihadist CNN: Al-Awlaki threatens Americans
40 Americans Have Joined Al Qaeda Group
U.S.-educated Misunderstander of Islam pleads guilty to jihad war crimes, turns government witness

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012

Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization

Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces on a charge of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based designated foreign terrorist organization. Full Story

Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center

U.S. citizen Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, pled guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland. Full Story

Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings

Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, Virginia, pled guilty to damaging property and to firearms violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in northern Virginia between October and November 2010, and to attempting to damage veterans’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery. Full Story

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 13, 2012

1.Tampa: Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa

A 25-year-old resident of Pinellas Park, Florida was charged in connection with an alleged plot to attack locations in Tampa with a vehicle bomb, assault rifle, and other explosives. Full Story

2.Baltimore: Former Army Solider Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab

A man who secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army was charged with attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, and was arrested upon his return to Maryland after traveling to Africa. Full Story

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 9, 2011

Seattle: Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack Military Processing Center

A former Los Angeles man pled guilty in connection with the June 2011 plot to attack a military installation in Seattle. Full Story

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 2, 2011

> It’s apparent that the people filing the suit don’t understand the technology or the products enough to realize that Rackspace Cloud Servers and GitHub are completely different products from different companies."

The problem is that if you are sued for patent infringement - regardless of the merits of the case - you are up for $2M in lawyers fees and court costs to defend it. Recently a judge speaking out against trolls said $3M - $5M. If you're a small company or worse - a lone developer - that will send you bankrupt. The suit will most likely be filed in a troll-friendly court district such as the East District of Texas as this case was. The judges in E.D. Texas there are notoriously pro-troll and won't dismiss even the most stupid of cases. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/405259/a-haven-for-patent-pirates/

Trolling causes a lot of damage for innovators elsewhere in the US, but it is huge source of revenue for E.D. Texas. Congressmen from these other districts need to gang up against the Texas trolls and Congressmen: http://www.house.gov/representatives/#state_tn

> "The state's conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, had, among other things, demanded access to the climatologist's emails, arguing that Mann might have manipulated data and thus defrauded the government in applying for scientific grants."

Ken Cuccinelli *might* beat his wife. I demand access to his wife's medical records.

Really, it doesn't matter if the emails are released or not. If they are not released, then there will be a whole "What are they trying to hide?!?!" campaign. If they are released, then no matter what is in the emails, the conservative pundits will find some sentence fragment to post on their blogs, which will then get posted to facebook and tweeted and retweeted, and it will be played on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and on Beck and on Hannity, and all of their followers will say "See? We told you something fishy was going on, and this is ABSOLUTE proof!!", even though the actual context of the email would reveal that it proves nothing of the sort.

Here's my go to example of this kind of thing. Here, Glenn Beck (with the help of Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz) describes a patent held by Fannie Mae that covers a tamper proof outlet cover. The idea is that companies can use these to keep employees from plugging high-power devices into outlets that are on the same circuits as PCs, so that breakers won't trip and unsaved work won't be lost. But what Beck explains is that this will make it so that the government can lock the outlets in your house so that you won't use too much electricity. Beck's explanation doesn't even make sense for so many practical and logistical reasons, but apparently his fans didn't think to question that.

Beck and Chaffetz both claim that the patent itself says that it's for home use, not for commercial or office use, which is exactly opposite of what the text of the patent describes. Not only is the patent text freely available online -- like all patents -- Beck clearly had access to it because he has the diagram from the patent printed out on a large paper, for use as a visual aid. The description in the patent text repeatedly describes the use of the invention in an office environment. The only mention of home use is a comparison to the baby-proofing outlet covers, but the text is clear that the invention is for office use, not in homes. Beck points at the diagram and shows how "they" come into your home and lock the outlet cover in place, so you can't remove it. Completely ignoring that A) it's not for homes, it's for offices; B) "They" is not government agencies, it's the facilities managers who work for the companies that would use this, and C) "You", are the employee that's not supposed to plug stuff in, not the homeowner who just wants to use his own electricity at home.

They also quote a letter that Jason Chaffetz received from Fannie Mae's legal counsel regarding the issue. The letter very plainly explains all of the questions that Beck frames in such a sinister way, even though Beck makes it sound like the lawyer who wrote it was being evasive. If someone were to actually read the letter, they would see very plainly that the patented invention was not invented for anything to do with Climate Change, and that it was designed to prevent data loss on company PCs. Beck goes to great lengths to read a couple of selected lines from the letter, while avoiding the parts that explain everything Beck was trying to question. Beck wasn't reading from cue cards or a teleprompter... He had the entire letter in his hand, with sections of it highlighted. When I see how Beck regards the information which is right in front of him, and dismisses it so he can tell a completely different, unrelated story, it makes me sick. What makes it worse is the fact that my own parent

There's a reason these companies came to the government: they could not get private sector financing. Why not? Most likely, because they have no convincing business case. However, they have good contacts in the government, so they get to waste your tax dollars.

Note these tidbits from a report written for the House Oversight Committee:

- "The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the DOE loan guarantee program was riddled with program inefficiencies"

- "the absence of government intervention the private sector builds the infrastructure to assess risk, the federal government has neither the expertise nor the incentive..."

- "...once the government subsidizes a portion of the market, the object of the subsidy becomes a
safe asset. Safety in the market, however, often means low return on investments, which is likely to turn venture
capitalists away. As a result, capital investments will likely dry out and innovation rates will go down"

- "loan guarantee programs are unable to save failing industries or to create millions of jobs,
because—he explained—the original lack of access to credit markets is caused by serious industrial problems, not
vice versa. If an applicant’s business plan cannot be made to show a profit under reasonable economic assumptions, private lenders are unlikely to issue a loan. And they would be right not to."

- "the systematic economic harm done by rewarding companies that forgo value creation in favor of pursuing
financial benefit through the political system creates long term consequences for our economy and our country"

The fact that the government is wasting less money on this cronyism than it is wasting on useless wars is irrelevant. It is still waste, and it is still our money they are wasting.

Been removed from that link, but it can be found here:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll569.xml

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll569.xml

Direct link: Roll 569

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll569.xml

rather... Roll Call

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll569.xml

Under the votes tab: Roll no. 569.. Might not be there long

They have nothing to fear from this. They see it as a plus, and most of the voters do, too.

Blind skepticism is little better than blind faith.

Since your name suggest you chose the right editor, I'll assume there is hope for you.

When you say "they have identical donors" that simlply isn't true. The billionaires that make up Crossroads GPS are not donating to Obama's campaign or PACs, and LGBT PAC is not spending money saying nice things about Romney. There is a choice. If you're in the 1%, or an ultra-conservative religious enthusiast, Romney will undoubtedly have your back. If if you're.. well... everyone who doesn't care to see the desires of the ultra-conservatives and the wealthy prioritized above the rest of us, then it would seem Obama is a clear choice.

If you want to cut out all the bullshit, take two good examples. Read the 2010 Affordable Care Act (as passed)

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/full/

And then Read the Paul Ryan budget (which Romney claims is very similar (if not identical) to his):

http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/pathtoprosperity2013.pdf

These are outstanding examples of what each camp would like to do with your money. You can read into the past versions if you like. The orignal Obama Care included the highly controversial Public Option, and the original Ryan plan turned Medicare into Vouchercare. Both were bad ideas if you ask me, but they have since adapted their plans.

If your argument could be amended to: "Both sides are far too influenced by money and special interests." Then I would wholeheartedly agree and highly recommend this book by Lawrence Lessig on how we should go about fixing this problem:

http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Lost-Money-Corrupts-Congress--/dp/0446576433/

Except for the fact that the Republican controlled House HAS passed budgets for consideration in the last two years (actually before that too, but it wasn't Republican controlled), but the Democrat controlled Senate has refused to even take up any discussion about budget this year (thanks Harry!). So why do you say that the Democrats want to see the president "fall flat on his ass"?

And if you think the only increases in spending took place prior to the last three years, apparently you haven't been paying attention.

Except for the fact that the Republican controlled House HAS passed budgets for consideration in the last two years (actually before that too, but it wasn't Republican controlled), but the Democrat controlled Senate has refused to even take up any discussion about budget this year (thanks Harry!). So why do you say that the Democrats want to see the president "fall flat on his ass"?

And if you think the only increases in spending took place prior to the last three years, apparently you haven't been paying attention.

Only "files" are under license.

Music on physical media is personal property and can be disposed of as such.

Interesting. What qualifies as "physical media" under the law?
From 17 USC 1008:

(4)(A) A "digital audio recording medium" is any material
            object in a form commonly distributed for use by individuals,
            that is primarily marketed or most commonly used by consumers for
            the purpose of making digital audio copied recordings by use of a
            digital audio recording device.
                (B) Such term does not include any material object -
                    (i) that embodies a sound recording at the time it is first
                distributed by the importer or manufacturer; or
                    (ii) that is primarily marketed and most commonly used by
                consumers either for the purpose of making copies of motion
                pictures or other audiovisual works or for the purpose of
                making copies of nonmusical literary works, including computer
                programs or data bases.

(Emphasis added).
So... since hard drive manufacturers have been pretty busy labeling all of their external USB drives as "ideal for storing music"... doesn't that mean that this has become a "primary marketing" feature of hard drives, thus legally allowing us to "own" it, unlike "digital rentals" or "licensing"?

You can copy the files to audio CDs, completely legally. You can then transfer ownership of those CDs. 17 USC 1008.

By contrast, I'm offended that so much as a single penny of taxpayer money went toward this.

900 million of your tax pennies just last year, actually. I don't write to my Congress critter as often as I should, but this has prompted me to do so. It would seem that one House member is already starting to ask some hard questions.

The guy serves on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Citation: http://gop.science.house.gov/Members/Default.aspx

So this guy has a say in the nation's direction on those things.

Or how about the Congressional Black Caucus that ... isn't racist? Can I form the "Congressional White" or "Latino" or "Asian/Pacific" Caucus?

There's a lot of bait in your post, so let's just look at this.

http://capac-chu.house.gov/ - The .gov website of the Asian Caucus.
http://chc-gonzalez.house.gov/ - The .gov website of the Hispanic Caucus.

Keep baiting though. :D

Or how about the Congressional Black Caucus that ... isn't racist? Can I form the "Congressional White" or "Latino" or "Asian/Pacific" Caucus?

There's a lot of bait in your post, so let's just look at this.

http://capac-chu.house.gov/ - The .gov website of the Asian Caucus.
http://chc-gonzalez.house.gov/ - The .gov website of the Hispanic Caucus.

Keep baiting though. :D

If you call someone 'grotesquely wrong" then you should have some support for your position. You don't. Try these, they only took 30 seconds to find. Let me know if you need more. http://democrats.financialservices.house.gov/FinancialSvcsDemMedia/file/key_issues/Predatory_Subprime_Mortgage_Lending/GSE_Subprime_timelineSHORT_091510.pdf http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/09/AR2008060902626.html http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/30/real_estate/congress_subprime.fortune/ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212948811465427.html

It's worth reading the report released by Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey -- the summary has some of the same statistics, and all of the details of what he learned are in his letters to & replies from the different carriers.

It's very interesting reading for someone like me that's looking to switch companies sometime soon, since they don't appear to all be handling the situation the same way: T-Mobile, for example, only grants a request if it's "sufficiently specific" and "clearly describes the specific subscriber whose information is sought" while Verizon answers all lawful requests.

It's worth reading the report released by Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey -- the summary has some of the same statistics, and all of the details of what he learned are in his letters to & replies from the different carriers.

It's very interesting reading for someone like me that's looking to switch companies sometime soon, since they don't appear to all be handling the situation the same way: T-Mobile, for example, only grants a request if it's "sufficiently specific" and "clearly describes the specific subscriber whose information is sought" while Verizon answers all lawful requests.

Congress did try to pass a balanced budget amendment (TWICE, in 1995 and 1996) during Clinton's 8 years, but because it was the Republicans that proposed and promised the amendment (their "Contract With America") that most of the Democrats voted against it (because apparently there is nothing worse than Republicans getting credit for promising and then passing it.)

The 1995 act passed the House 300 to 132 but failed to get a 2/3rds majority (required for amendments) in the Senate with a vote of 65 to 35.

If you actually look at these references, you see that it was the Democrats voting against the balanced budget amendment and they are why it never got to Clinton's desk to be signed (although he had already stated that he would veto it anyways.) 97.7% of the Nay votes in the House were Democrats and 94.3% of the Nay votes in the Senate were Democrats.

Had it passed the Senate though, Clinton had already stated that he would veto it. You claim it would have been ingenious if he had gotten the balanced budget amendment passed, but in actually he and his party were hostile to it. The amendment itself was fairly benign, giving congress the power to still pass unbalanced budgets if they had to as long as they could get a 60% vote in both House and Senate.

You people act as if Clinton was great for the economy, but the facts transcend the media reporting, and obviously your ignorance. Clinton vetoed every balanced budget plan that hit his desk until after the government shutdown twice in 1995 for lack of a budget. There was no plan for a balanced budget until the Republicans took control of both House and Senate by promising exactly that. Clinton had already been in office for 2 years by that point, but he didnt even have a balanced budget plan. The media gave Clinton credit but he didnt deserve it. The media loved Clinton.

Bob Goodlatte Chariman of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet. http://goodlatte.house.gov/contacts/new Tell him to stop her staffer from making asinine comments that make him and his subcommittee sound more stupid than they really are.

From the article;

Each house needs half of its members to be present for a quorum to do any official business. The House of Representatives can replace deceased members only by special elections that take, on average, four months. The Senate, under the 17th Amendment, allows states (usually governors) to appoint replacements to fill vacancies, but neither house has a mechanism for replacing incapacitated members.

Members do not need to be replaced. Here is a quote from the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives.

A quorum in the House of Representatives is when a majority of the Members are present. When there are no vacancies in the membership, a quorum is 218. When one or more seats are vacant, because of deaths or resignations, the quorum is reduced accordingly. Because of Members' other duties, a quorum often is not present on the House floor. But any Member may insist that a quorum must participate in any vote that takes place in the House. If a Member makes a point of order that a quorum is not present, and the Speaker agrees, a series of bells ring on the House side of the Capitol and in the House office buildings to alert Members to come to the Chamber and record their presence.

Here are a few points that are important;
1. Quorum is calculated relative to the number of sitting live Representatives and not the number of seats. A dead Representative is considered a vacancy and is not counted toward quorum. If all but three of the Representatives were killed than 2 would constitute a quorum.
2. Quorum does not need to be present for a vote unless at least one Representative asks for one. In an emergency I doubt and Representative would make such a request.
3. As for incapacitated members, the House can declare a seat vacant by vote (Note: Unless a member requests a quorum is not required for a vote).
The same standards are present for the Senate.

A straightforward reading of the Constitution’s quorum requirement would seem to require a simple majority of Senators, or a minimum of 51 if there are no vacancies in the body, to be present on the floor whenever the Senate conducts business.

As the House and Senate would still be functioning after such a disaster, the House could elect a Speaker or the Senate elect a President pro tempore and the line of succession would be restored.
The article misrepresents the quorum issue. Basically, as long as there is one member of the House or Senate alive and not incapacitated an acting President will be legally found.

Not to be a downer, but I know many of the people who do this, and it is not easy.

Check out the videos for Panel 2 & 3 here. If they had an API around the database and didn't rely on temporary, generated links, third parties wouldn't have to scrape the data and re-release it in a usable form. In addition (Panel 6), actual government workers rely on the data reorganized by said third parties to do their jobs.

Since the author of TFA was too lazy to Google for this and paste in a hyperlink, here is the current membership of the House Committee on Appropriations. If one of these jackass^H^H^H^H fine public servants represents your district, you might want to let him/her know what you think of this report.

Cancer and birth defects are terrible illnesses, but the radiation levels from Fukushima are so low as to get lost in the background noise of, say, radiation from a nearby kumquat.

Do kumquat trees draw cesium or some other isotope from the soil like sunflowers do? Sunflower seeds often show radiation. They were even testing them in Japan as a possible measure to help clean the soil, but from what I read they didn't remove enough to be useful, and the plants themselves needed special disposal afterwards.

The U.S. levels in the air were low, yes (expect very few cases of lung cancer from that compared to other sources such as decaying radon coming from our soil, building materials, and in water supplies - especially in Texas), but there were much higher concentrations seen in some rainfall. Although not reported on the EPA site, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo had both Iodine-131 and Cesium 134/137 showing up in the milk from the university dairy unit pasture-fed cows. Some places in the U.S. had rainfall testing 1000 times the FDA allowable limit for drinking water. Even the Cal Poly milk was above the amount allowed in drinking water. At least I-131 doesn't last long. They quit showing test results for S.L.O. milk, so it isn't apparent just how much of the cesium present had been directly deposited on the grass the cows ate versus how much was absorbed through the soil. The amounts are not huge, but whatever is left in the soil is going to be there for decades. Average figures tend to hide the fact that there are hot spots, some seen even on the east coast. Most of the radiation that caused cancer in Sweden from Chernobyl is believed to have been the result of what was in rainfall on a particular day.

If you look at cancer reporting in California tabulated over the years and broken out by group, there are a couple of cancers rising significantly particularly in women, and the curves are getting steeper. Yes, the total percentage of the population affected is small, but people are being affected. (The timing of the rises would correlate with Chernobyl as the cause). The fact that there is some radiation from the soil and space (even brief spikes during solar flares), doesn't make radiation any more desirable.

I actually thought the head of the NRC, Chairman Gregory Jaczko, had recently done a reasonable job, but I'd like to know more. Not everyone that has concerns about nuclear power or feels that low-level radiation is still worth minimizing is anti-nuclear. Don't discredit citizens with legitimate concerns, throwing out utter nonsense about threats. Talk about pure FUD...

Republican Congressman Lee Terry of Nebraska had a few things to say, but was exceptionally vague. It's hard to trust much during an election year, especially attacks, but the fact that Jaczko resigned seems to validate that there was an issue. It seems to be a combination of management style and selectively withholding information to get his way. We should demand transparency, even if some of the details require educating people to keep the public calm. He does deserve credit for the U.S. being more on target than what Japanese officials were saying as to the (greater) area that was a high risk place to be. A campaign of lies, denying the consequences of releases, seems a big mistake to me. Only through honestly facing important issues can we hope to effectively manage them.

http://leeterry.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1712
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2115375,00.html

Sorry, no, it's not wild speculation. It's fact.

http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Hydraulic%20Fracturing%20Report%204.18.11.pdf

"The BTEX compounds â" benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene â" appeared in 60 of
the hydraulic fracturing products used between 2005 and 2009. Each BTEX compound is a
regulated contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act and a hazardous air pollutant under the
Clean Air Act. Benzene also is a known human carcinogen. The hydraulic fracturing companies
injected 11.4 million gallons of products containing at least one BTEX chemical over the five
year period.
"

Those are just some of the ones we KNOW are there. There are many others we don't know about.

"In many instances, the oil and gas service companies were unable to provide the
Committee with a complete chemical makeup of the hydraulic fracturing fluids they used.
Between 2005 and 2009, the companies used 94 million gallons of 279 products that contained at
least one chemical or component that the manufacturers deemed proprietary or a trade secret.
Committee staff requested that these companies disclose this proprietary information. Although
some companies did provide information about these proprietary fluids, in most cases the
companies stated that they did not have access to proprietary information about products they
purchased âoeoff the shelfâ from chemical suppliers. In these cases, the companies are injecting
fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify.
"

Not 24 hours ago, a Slashdotr posted a similar article about TSA being investigated by the House Oversight Committee for their overstock of backscatter scanners. The similarity between these cases is the apparent habit of TSA's failure to adhere to a reasonable of justifiable analysis of the system's requirements of budgetary restraint. Purchasing greater quanitities of high cost electronics than can be justified to accomplish the primary mission seems to be the new norm. The responsible personnel then claim that there's a benefit to overspending, and they do so with apparent impunity.

"But Honey! I saved 50% on each of the items I purchased because I bought twice as many as we need in order to get a discount!" In this case Verizon's account rep appears to have known something was wrong and did his best to make the deal look better by delivering more units than the contract called for. One wonders where this ends. Did the telecomm giant place an excessviely large order to components in order to get a discount from their supplier? And what of the companies that manufacture the subcomponents or the resource extraction companies that mine the minerals?

Who knows, if you dig deeply enough, you may be able to trace the chain of overconsumption all the way back to the Chinese who managed to corner the world market on rare earth minerals or the mining concern that shipped their operation from CA to China thereby shifting world supply from the U.S. to China. But let's not stop there... there's an entire industry of people whose enlightened self interest revolves around the analysis of geopolitical strategic interests which stem from the likely future shortages of commodities. If you're a real conspiracy theorist, you'll review the purchasing habits of the military to see if there was a glut of missiles in their inventory before the 1st Gulf War.

Just ask Thomas P. Barnett, author of the Pentagon's New Map.

They've also blown $100's of millions on x-ray machines and explosives detectors.

Those are sitting unused in warehouses too, two years later.

Seven Democrats, and nine Republicans. Who do you think is in charge?

Now, time for your civics lesson. Go to the department webpage, scroll down to the Strategic Forces subcommittee markup, watch the little five minute video, and read the attached file (search for the word "laser").

What you'll find is that the truth is a lot more banal than what gets printed in the papers. They're requesting an extra $30 million to keep to project in stasis while they look into whether or not it should really be shut down. The whole thing is a couple paragraphs out of over 200 pages. The Democrats had some concerns with the proposal, but those don't get announced yet -- instead, they're submitted in writing sometime in the next week.

This is small potatoes. Really small potatoes. If we reach the point where they're seriously considering funding this, then complain and point fingers. For now, its a handful of people asking a slightly larger group to ask an even larger group to spend 0.004% of the military's budget on looking into whether or not this project is worth preserving.

It sounds more like some Congressmen are getting lazy at funneling money into their constituents.
"Hey. I'm finding it hard to send money back to my state of ________. Economy is down, everything is made in China."
"Remember that program from the 80s that spent billions of dollars and did absolutely nothing?"
"Brilliant!"

Tada. You have a program resurrected. Look at the committee. Most are states that are hurting for money and/or industry. I'm sure the guy from Washington had nothing to say about Boeing's involvement. I wouldn't be shocked to find boeing suppliers or subcontractors in any of the other states that make up that committee.

I am, it's actually GOOD to see they have enough character to 1st support something, then to see that users DO NOT WANT IT, & to back clear away from it too.

* See subject-line, if that's what you really feel is a "1st" from them then...

APK

P.S.=> You've got to understand that BIG & POWERFUL as M$ is (& I am definitely a 'fanboy' of theirs + everyone around here knows that much), that YES, they too, have been "hassled" by government & know what THAT's about, & turning THE REPUBLICANS http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml this way as they have?

Admirable!

It also proves they don't just "stay the course" when the OBVIOUS MAJORITY OF US DO NOT WANT THIS CISPA/SOPA/ACTA BULLSHIT...

As especially when our own politicians don't write it, & BIG MONEY DOES & they just "champion it" @ Big Money's behest, like a good dog would... wait until taxes don't get paid anymore & the big companies refuse to foot the bill & keep offshoring jobs... then, the politician dogs WILL TURN ON THEIR "PUPPET STRING MASTERS", mark my words on it...

(Which that type of CRAP? Yes, it has been going on forever, but seems to be coming to a halt because people ARE BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF IT & SCRUTINIZING THE HELL OUT OF CRAP JUST LIKE THIS - God Bless those folks!)...

... apk

Funny, your website contradicts the Source material available from http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll932.xml

Which do we believe. The official house roll call or your link?

When are these people going to realise they work for us AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Want to know how your vote was place? then search for your representative - http://www.house.gov/representatives (by zip code in top right) and then see how they voted on this critical law;
- http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml


http://velazquez.house.gov/ (mine for brooklyn) voted No
http://clarke.house.gov/ New York 11 also voted no

....however Edolphus Towns of NY district 10 voted yes!!??? WTF???
http://towns.house.gov/


If you are in his district i suggest you contact him to let him no that this didn't go un noticed

Hours of Operation
Office Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Constituent Services by appointment – 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM)

Address
10408 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Phone: (718) 272-1175
Fax: (718) 272-1178

When are these people going to realise they work for us AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Want to know how your vote was place? then search for your representative - http://www.house.gov/representatives (by zip code in top right) and then see how they voted on this critical law;
- http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml


http://velazquez.house.gov/ (mine for brooklyn) voted No
http://clarke.house.gov/ New York 11 also voted no

....however Edolphus Towns of NY district 10 voted yes!!??? WTF???
http://towns.house.gov/


If you are in his district i suggest you contact him to let him no that this didn't go un noticed

Hours of Operation
Office Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Constituent Services by appointment – 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM)

Address
10408 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Phone: (718) 272-1175
Fax: (718) 272-1178

When are these people going to realise they work for us AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Want to know how your vote was place? then search for your representative - http://www.house.gov/representatives (by zip code in top right) and then see how they voted on this critical law;
- http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml


http://velazquez.house.gov/ (mine for brooklyn) voted No
http://clarke.house.gov/ New York 11 also voted no

....however Edolphus Towns of NY district 10 voted yes!!??? WTF???
http://towns.house.gov/


If you are in his district i suggest you contact him to let him no that this didn't go un noticed

Hours of Operation
Office Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Constituent Services by appointment – 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM)

Address
10408 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Phone: (718) 272-1175
Fax: (718) 272-1178

When are these people going to realise they work for us AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Want to know how your vote was place? then search for your representative - http://www.house.gov/representatives (by zip code in top right) and then see how they voted on this critical law;
- http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml


http://velazquez.house.gov/ (mine for brooklyn) voted No
http://clarke.house.gov/ New York 11 also voted no

....however Edolphus Towns of NY district 10 voted yes!!??? WTF???
http://towns.house.gov/


If you are in his district i suggest you contact him to let him no that this didn't go un noticed

Hours of Operation
Office Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Constituent Services by appointment – 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM)

Address
10408 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Phone: (718) 272-1175
Fax: (718) 272-1178

When are these people going to realise they work for us AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Want to know how your vote was place? then search for your representative - http://www.house.gov/representatives (by zip code in top right) and then see how they voted on this critical law;
- http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml


http://velazquez.house.gov/ (mine for brooklyn) voted No
http://clarke.house.gov/ New York 11 also voted no

....however Edolphus Towns of NY district 10 voted yes!!??? WTF???
http://towns.house.gov/


If you are in his district i suggest you contact him to let him no that this didn't go un noticed

Hours of Operation
Office Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Constituent Services by appointment – 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM)

Address
10408 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Phone: (718) 272-1175
Fax: (718) 272-1178

And CISPA just passed today. Here's how the voting went:

Republicans: 206 ayes, 28 nays, 7 no votes (85%)
Democrats: 42 ayes, 140 nays, 8 no votes (22%)

Bipartisan? Yes. Equal blame? No.

Get off your butts and write them now house.gov, or better yet write your Senator and see if you can stop it before it hits Obama's desk.

My bad ... that roll was http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml as cited above. Tired. But he still abstained.

No he did NOT do the former ... he abstained today. You're confusing today's vote with the 2011 bill and vote. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll073.xml

All you GOP hack lovers who espouse about their love of Privacy, Liberty, Guns, blah, blah, blah take a look at the count:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml

AYES: GOP 206, DEM 42
NOES: GOP 28, DEM 140
NOT VOTING: GOP 8, DEM 7

Don't tell me the GOP is for your privacy. Stew in your own bull****.